Assenagon Asset Management S.A. Trims Holdings in Spire Inc. (NYSE:SR)

Assenagon Asset Management S.A. decreased its position in shares of Spire Inc. (NYSE:SR) by 81.9% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 22,100 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 99,929 shares during the period. Assenagon Asset Management S.A.’s holdings in Spire were worth $1,729,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Two Sigma Advisers LP increased its stake in shares of Spire by 95.1% during the 4th quarter. Two Sigma Advisers LP now owns 23,800 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,614,000 after acquiring an additional 11,600 shares during the last quarter. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. purchased a new stake in Spire in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $1,030,000. Bank of New York Mellon Corp grew its holdings in Spire by 15.8% in the fourth quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 778,442 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $52,802,000 after purchasing an additional 106,386 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its position in Spire by 3.6% during the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 834,647 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $56,614,000 after purchasing an additional 28,715 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Principal Financial Group Inc. increased its position in Spire by 1.9% during the fourth quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 173,374 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $11,760,000 after purchasing an additional 3,163 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 87.36% of the company’s stock.

Spire Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:SR opened at $72.12 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.03, a quick ratio of 0.34 and a current ratio of 0.43. Spire Inc. has a one year low of $58.19 and a one year high of $79.81. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $74.99 and its 200 day simple moving average is $73.12. The company has a market cap of $4.26 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.76, a PEG ratio of 2.45 and a beta of 0.63.

Spire (NYSE:SR) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, April 30th. The utilities provider reported $3.60 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $3.70 by ($0.10). Spire had a net margin of 10.22% and a return on equity of 8.49%. The firm had revenue of $1.05 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.15 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $3.45 earnings per share. Spire’s revenue for the quarter was down 6.8% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Spire Inc. will post 4.5 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Spire Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, July 2nd. Investors of record on Friday, April 11th will be issued a $0.785 dividend. This represents a $3.14 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.35%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, June 11th. Spire’s dividend payout ratio is currently 77.34%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have weighed in on SR. Mizuho lifted their price target on shares of Spire from $76.00 to $82.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, March 19th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price target on Spire from $85.00 to $83.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, May 28th. LADENBURG THALM/SH SH raised Spire to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, May 9th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on Spire from $75.00 to $82.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Finally, Morgan Stanley increased their target price on shares of Spire from $75.00 to $78.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 20th. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, three have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Spire presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $77.20.

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.