Magellan Asset Management Ltd Trims Holdings in Spire Inc. $SR

Magellan Asset Management Ltd lowered its holdings in Spire Inc. (NYSE:SR) by 3.0% in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 40,673 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 1,264 shares during the quarter. Magellan Asset Management Ltd owned approximately 0.07% of Spire worth $2,969,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Teacher Retirement System of Texas purchased a new position in Spire during the 1st quarter valued at $661,000. Principal Financial Group Inc. increased its position in shares of Spire by 2.6% during the first quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 177,950 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $13,925,000 after buying an additional 4,576 shares during the period. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. lifted its holdings in Spire by 4.3% in the first quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 5,210 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $408,000 after buying an additional 214 shares during the period. M&T Bank Corp bought a new stake in Spire during the 1st quarter valued at approximately $207,000. Finally, Moloney Securities Asset Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Spire during the 1st quarter worth approximately $318,000. 87.36% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Spire Price Performance

NYSE SR opened at $89.68 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 0.37, a quick ratio of 0.27 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.08. Spire Inc. has a 12 month low of $63.67 and a 12 month high of $89.97. The stock has a market cap of $5.29 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.37, a PEG ratio of 2.50 and a beta of 0.72. The company’s 50 day moving average is $81.86 and its two-hundred day moving average is $77.35.

Spire (NYSE:SR) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, August 5th. The utilities provider reported $0.01 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.09) by $0.10. Spire had a net margin of 11.56% and a return on equity of 8.66%. The firm had revenue of $421.90 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $417.27 million. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted ($0.14) earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 1.9% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Spire Inc. will post 4.5 earnings per share for the current year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts recently weighed in on SR shares. Jefferies Financial Group upgraded Spire to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 7th. BTIG Research raised Spire to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 22nd. Stifel Nicolaus set a $81.00 price target on shares of Spire and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 15th. UBS Group upped their price objective on shares of Spire from $80.00 to $95.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, October 13th. Finally, Morgan Stanley set a $91.00 target price on shares of Spire and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 22nd. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, five have given a Buy rating and five have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $86.08.

Spire Profile

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.