Nisa Investment Advisors LLC Sells 4,453 Shares of Spire Inc. (NYSE:SR)

Nisa Investment Advisors LLC trimmed its holdings in shares of Spire Inc. (NYSE:SR) by 33.9% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 8,688 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 4,453 shares during the quarter. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC’s holdings in Spire were worth $542,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of SR. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in shares of 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 in the last quarter. Fuller & Thaler Asset Management Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Spire by 126.0% during the 3rd quarter. Fuller & Thaler Asset Management Inc. now owns 3,501,638 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $198,123,000 after buying an additional 1,951,969 shares in the last quarter. Morgan Stanley boosted its holdings in shares of Spire by 107.7% during the 3rd quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 1,431,260 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $80,981,000 after buying an additional 742,231 shares in the last quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. bought a new position in shares of Spire during the 1st quarter worth approximately $149,000. Finally, State Street Corp boosted its holdings in shares of Spire by 34.1% during the 1st quarter. State Street Corp now owns 2,252,151 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $163,065,000 after buying an additional 572,381 shares in the last quarter. 87.36% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity at Spire

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 transaction of $75,220.22. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 6,768 shares in the company, valued at approximately $393,423.84. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. In other news, Treasurer Adam W. Woodard sold 1,229 shares of Spire stock in a transaction on Friday, March 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $59.58, for a total transaction of $73,223.82. Following the sale, the treasurer now directly owns 1,560 shares in the company, valued at approximately $92,944.80. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, 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 sale, the insider now owns 6,768 shares in the company, valued at $393,423.84. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 2.86% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

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

Spire Trading Up 0.1 %

NYSE SR opened at $58.20 on Thursday. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.20 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.69, a PEG ratio of 2.69 and a beta of 0.51. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $59.69 and a 200 day simple moving average of $59.77. Spire Inc. has a 12 month low of $53.77 and a 12 month high of $70.60. The company has a current ratio of 0.55, a quick ratio of 0.43 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.16.

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

Spire Announces Dividend

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

Spire Company 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.