Arizona State Retirement System Has $917,000 Stock Position in Spire Inc. (NYSE:SR)

Arizona State Retirement System reduced its position in shares of Spire Inc. (NYSE:SR) by 5.0% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 14,705 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 767 shares during the period. Arizona State Retirement System’s holdings in Spire were worth $917,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in SR. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC raised its stake in Spire by 70,596.2% during the 4th quarter. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC now owns 4,264,392 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $293,646,000 after buying an additional 4,258,360 shares during the period. Fuller & Thaler Asset Management Inc. lifted its holdings in Spire by 126.0% during the third quarter. Fuller & Thaler Asset Management Inc. now owns 3,501,638 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $198,123,000 after acquiring an additional 1,951,969 shares during the period. Morgan Stanley lifted its holdings in Spire by 107.7% during the third quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 1,431,260 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $80,981,000 after acquiring an additional 742,231 shares during the period. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. bought a new stake in Spire during the first quarter worth $149,000. Finally, State Street Corp lifted its holdings in Spire by 34.1% during the first quarter. State Street Corp now owns 2,252,151 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $163,065,000 after acquiring an additional 572,381 shares during the period. 87.36% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity

In other news, insider Joseph B. Hampton sold 1,294 shares of Spire stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $58.13, for a total value of $75,220.22. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 6,768 shares in the company, valued at $393,423.84. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. In related news, insider Joseph B. Hampton sold 1,294 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $58.13, for a total transaction of $75,220.22. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 6,768 shares in the company, valued at $393,423.84. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, Treasurer Adam W. Woodard sold 1,229 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $59.58, for a total value of $73,223.82. Following the transaction, the treasurer now owns 1,560 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $92,944.80. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 2.86% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Spire Stock Performance

Shares of SR opened at $58.16 on Wednesday. The firm has a market cap of $3.20 billion, a PE ratio of 15.68, a PEG ratio of 2.70 and a beta of 0.51. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $59.68 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $59.78. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.16, a current ratio of 0.55 and a quick ratio of 0.43. Spire Inc. has a 1 year low of $53.77 and a 1 year high of $70.60.

Spire (NYSE:SR) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 1st. The utilities provider reported $1.47 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.37 by $0.10. The company had revenue of $756.60 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $688.88 million. Spire had a return on equity of 8.27% and a net margin of 8.11%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 7.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $1.55 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Spire Inc. will post 4.35 EPS for the current year.

Spire Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, April 2nd. Stockholders of record on Monday, March 11th were given a $0.755 dividend. This represents a $3.02 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 5.19%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, March 8th. Spire’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 81.40%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

SR has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. UBS Group initiated coverage on Spire in a report on Friday, April 12th. They set a “buy” rating and a $68.00 price target on the stock. Mizuho dropped their price target on Spire from $66.00 to $64.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, January 22nd. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada restated a “sector perform” rating and issued a $65.00 target price on shares of Spire in a research note on Tuesday. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Spire presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $62.25.

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.