Pacer Advisors Inc. Acquires 6,283 Shares of Spire Inc. (NYSE:SR)

Pacer Advisors Inc. grew its holdings in Spire Inc. (NYSE:SR) by 75.3% during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 14,622 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 6,283 shares during the period. Pacer Advisors Inc.’s holdings in Spire were worth $888,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. International Assets Investment Management LLC acquired a new position in Spire during the second quarter worth about $31,000. LRI Investments LLC bought a new position in Spire in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $35,000. Fidelis Capital Partners LLC acquired a new stake in Spire in the first quarter valued at approximately $37,000. EntryPoint Capital LLC bought a new stake in shares of Spire during the first quarter worth $47,000. Finally, Blue Trust Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Spire by 26.8% during the second quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 761 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $47,000 after buying an additional 161 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 87.36% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

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

Spire Trading Up 1.2 %

NYSE:SR opened at $67.14 on Friday. Spire Inc. has a 52 week low of $53.77 and a 52 week high of $68.02. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.11, a quick ratio of 0.35 and a current ratio of 0.48. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $65.75 and its 200-day moving average is $62.35. The firm has a market cap of $3.88 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.95, a P/E/G ratio of 3.17 and a beta of 0.52.

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

Spire Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared 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 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.50%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, September 11th. Spire’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 76.26%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

SR has been the topic of several recent research reports. Stifel Nicolaus raised their price objective on Spire from $64.00 to $70.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, August 1st. Morgan Stanley boosted their price target on Spire from $70.00 to $76.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating and one has issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $63.83.

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.