Thompson Siegel & Walmsley LLC Decreases Position in Spire Inc. (NYSE:SR)

Thompson Siegel & Walmsley LLC lessened its holdings in shares of Spire Inc. (NYSE:SR - Free Report) by 10.9% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 256,820 shares of the utilities provider's stock after selling 31,519 shares during the period. Thompson Siegel & Walmsley LLC owned 0.44% of Spire worth $17,281,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of SR. Russell Investments Group Ltd. grew its holdings in Spire by 7.2% in the 1st quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. now owns 63,966 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $3,926,000 after buying an additional 4,271 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Spire by 1.2% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 5,626,863 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $345,321,000 after purchasing an additional 65,486 shares during the period. Clearbridge Investments LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Spire during the 1st quarter worth about $2,401,000. American International Group Inc. raised its holdings in Spire by 1.9% in the 1st quarter. American International Group Inc. now owns 98,081 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $6,019,000 after buying an additional 1,818 shares during the period. Finally, CANADA LIFE ASSURANCE Co boosted its stake in Spire by 6.6% during the first quarter. CANADA LIFE ASSURANCE Co now owns 88,763 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $5,450,000 after buying an additional 5,513 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 87.36% of the company's stock.

Spire Stock Up 3.2 %

SR stock traded up $2.20 during mid-day trading on Thursday, reaching $70.59. The company had a trading volume of 222,819 shares, compared to its average volume of 414,966. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $65.63 and a 200 day simple moving average of $63.71. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.11, a quick ratio of 0.35 and a current ratio of 0.48. Spire Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $56.36 and a fifty-two week high of $70.73. The company has a market capitalization of $4.08 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.73, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.00 and a beta of 0.52.

Spire Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, January 3rd. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, December 11th will be given a $3.14 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, December 11th. This is an increase from Spire's previous quarterly dividend of $0.76. This represents a $12.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 17.79%. Spire's dividend payout ratio is currently 72.60%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have recently issued reports on SR shares. Mizuho boosted their price target on shares of Spire from $62.00 to $65.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Tuesday. UBS Group upped their price target on Spire from $75.00 to $80.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday. Morgan Stanley lifted their price objective on Spire from $70.00 to $76.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Wednesday, September 25th. LADENBURG THALM/SH SH lowered Spire from a "neutral" rating to a "sell" rating and decreased their target price for the stock from $65.50 to $60.50 in a research note on Thursday, October 17th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus lifted their target price on Spire from $64.00 to $70.00 and gave the company a "hold" rating in a research report on Thursday, August 1st. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating and one has issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Spire presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $68.31.

About Spire

Spire Inc, together with its subsidiaries, engages in the purchase, retail distribution, and sale of natural gas to residential, commercial, industrial, and other end-users of natural gas in the United States. The company operates through three segments: Gas Utility, Gas Marketing, and Midstream. It is also involved in the marketing of natural gas and related services; and transportation and storage of natural gas.