Bank of New York Mellon Corp Sells 28,812 Shares of Spire Inc. (NYSE:SR)

Bank of New York Mellon Corp reduced its holdings in Spire Inc. (NYSE:SR) by 3.7% during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 752,185 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 28,812 shares during the period. Bank of New York Mellon Corp owned approximately 1.30% of Spire worth $45,680,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in SR. LRI Investments LLC bought a new position in Spire in the 1st quarter worth approximately $35,000. Fidelis Capital Partners LLC bought a new stake in shares of Spire during the first quarter valued at approximately $37,000. EntryPoint Capital LLC bought a new stake in shares of Spire during the first quarter valued at approximately $47,000. Blue Trust Inc. increased its position in shares of Spire by 26.8% during the second quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 761 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $47,000 after purchasing an additional 161 shares during the period. Finally, Jones Financial Companies Lllp increased its position in shares of Spire by 30.2% during the fourth quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp now owns 1,349 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $84,000 after purchasing an additional 313 shares during the period. 87.36% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Spire news, VP Gerard J. Gorla sold 500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, August 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $64.82, for a total value of $32,410.00. Following the transaction, the vice president now owns 7,311 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $473,899.02. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. In other news, Director Maria V. Fogarty sold 6,590 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, August 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $65.15, for a total transaction of $429,338.50. Following the transaction, the director now owns 9,800 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $638,470. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, VP Gerard J. Gorla sold 500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, August 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $64.82, for a total value of $32,410.00. Following the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 7,311 shares in the company, valued at approximately $473,899.02. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 2.86% of the company’s stock.

Spire Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:SR opened at $65.97 on Monday. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $63.72 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $61.49. Spire Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $53.77 and a fifty-two week high of $68.02. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.81 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.66, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.12 and a beta of 0.51. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.11, a current ratio of 0.48 and a quick ratio of 0.35.

Spire (NYSE:SR) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 31st. The utilities provider reported ($0.14) earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.18) by $0.04. The firm had revenue of $414.10 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $313.86 million. Spire had a return on equity of 8.10% and a net margin of 9.40%. The business’s revenue was down 1.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted ($0.42) earnings per share. As a group, analysts predict that Spire Inc. will post 4.23 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Spire Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, October 2nd. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, September 11th will be paid a $0.755 dividend. This represents a $3.02 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.58%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, September 11th. Spire’s dividend payout ratio is currently 76.26%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts have recently issued reports on SR shares. Morgan Stanley lowered their price objective on Spire from $67.00 to $64.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, June 24th. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their price objective on Spire from $64.00 to $70.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 1st. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating and one has issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Spire currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $62.50.

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.