Sei Investments Co. Increases Holdings in Spire Inc. (NYSE:SR)

Sei Investments Co. increased its holdings in shares of Spire Inc. (NYSE:SR) by 7.8% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 220,327 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 15,854 shares during the quarter. Sei Investments Co. owned approximately 0.38% of Spire worth $14,945,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Captrust Financial Advisors purchased a new stake in Spire during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $39,228,000. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. bought a new stake in Spire in the 4th quarter valued at $8,277,000. Bank of New York Mellon Corp lifted its stake in Spire by 15.8% in the 4th quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 778,442 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $52,802,000 after purchasing an additional 106,386 shares in the last quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans boosted its holdings in shares of Spire by 13.2% during the 4th quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans now owns 731,682 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $49,630,000 after purchasing an additional 85,476 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC grew its position in shares of Spire by 5.5% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,385,452 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $93,244,000 after purchasing an additional 71,798 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 87.36% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts recently commented on the company. Janney Montgomery Scott initiated coverage on Spire in a research note on Tuesday, December 17th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $73.00 price target for the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised shares of Spire from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and raised their target price for the company from $72.00 to $85.00 in a report on Thursday, March 20th. Mizuho upped their price target on shares of Spire from $76.00 to $82.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 19th. LADENBURG THALM/SH SH raised shares of Spire to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday, March 17th. Finally, StockNews.com cut shares of Spire from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Wednesday. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating, three have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Spire has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $76.00.

Spire Stock Up 0.9 %

Shares of NYSE:SR opened at $78.18 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.21, a current ratio of 0.50 and a quick ratio of 0.37. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $74.24 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $69.56. Spire Inc. has a 1 year low of $57.27 and a 1 year high of $78.83. The firm has a market capitalization of $4.56 billion, a PE ratio of 18.93, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.82 and a beta of 0.53.

Spire (NYSE:SR) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 5th. The utilities provider reported $1.34 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.42 by ($0.08). Spire had a net margin of 9.70% and a return on equity of 7.88%. On average, equities analysts predict that Spire Inc. will post 4.5 EPS for the current year.

Spire Cuts Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 2nd. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, March 11th will be given a $0.785 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, March 11th. This represents a $3.14 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.02%. Spire’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 76.03%.

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.