Janney Montgomery Scott LLC Sells 1,455 Shares of Spire Inc. (NYSE:SR)

Janney Montgomery Scott LLC reduced its holdings in shares of Spire Inc. (NYSE:SR) by 12.0% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 10,700 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 1,455 shares during the quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC’s holdings in Spire were worth $837,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Lee Danner & Bass Inc. bought a new stake in Spire during the 4th quarter worth $32,000. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its stake in shares of Spire by 66.0% during the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 727 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $57,000 after purchasing an additional 289 shares in the last quarter. State of Wyoming bought a new stake in shares of Spire during the fourth quarter worth about $52,000. Physician Wealth Advisors Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Spire during the fourth quarter worth about $68,000. Finally, Sterling Capital Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Spire by 827.9% in the fourth quarter. Sterling Capital Management LLC now owns 1,828 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $124,000 after buying an additional 1,631 shares during the period. 87.36% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts have weighed in on SR shares. LADENBURG THALM/SH SH raised shares of Spire to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday, May 9th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on Spire from $75.00 to $82.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Guggenheim lifted their target price on Spire from $67.00 to $72.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 1st. Wall Street Zen upgraded Spire from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, May 9th. Finally, Mizuho lifted their price objective on Spire from $76.00 to $82.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 19th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating, three have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $77.40.

Spire Trading Up 0.1%

Shares of SR opened at $72.93 on Tuesday. Spire Inc. has a twelve month low of $58.64 and a twelve month high of $79.81. The stock has a market cap of $4.30 billion, a PE ratio of 17.96, a P/E/G ratio of 2.48 and a beta of 0.63. The company has a quick ratio of 0.34, a current ratio of 0.43 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.03. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $74.40 and its 200-day moving average price is $73.33.

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

Spire Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, July 2nd. Shareholders of record on Friday, April 11th will be paid a $0.785 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, June 11th. This represents a $3.14 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.31%. Spire’s dividend payout ratio is currently 77.34%.

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.