Amalgamated Bank Reduces Stake in Spire Inc. (NYSE:SR)

Amalgamated Bank reduced its stake in Spire Inc. (NYSE:SR) by 1.9% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 25,753 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 491 shares during the quarter. Amalgamated Bank’s holdings in Spire were worth $2,015,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in SR. Golden State Wealth Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Spire by 103.8% during the 1st quarter. Golden State Wealth Management LLC now owns 803 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $63,000 after purchasing an additional 409 shares during the period. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC grew its holdings in shares of Spire by 16.9% during the 1st quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC now owns 5,833 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $456,000 after purchasing an additional 844 shares during the period. Elevation Point Wealth Partners LLC purchased a new position in shares of Spire during the 1st quarter worth $216,000. Blue Trust Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Spire by 20.5% during the 1st quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 1,305 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $102,000 after purchasing an additional 222 shares during the period. Finally, Two Sigma Advisers LP grew its holdings 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 worth $1,614,000 after purchasing an additional 11,600 shares during the period. 87.36% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts recently commented on SR shares. Morgan Stanley restated an “underperform” rating on shares of Spire in a report on Wednesday, June 18th. Mizuho raised their target price on Spire from $76.00 to $82.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, March 19th. Wall Street Zen upgraded Spire from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, May 9th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price target on Spire from $75.00 to $82.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price target on Spire from $85.00 to $83.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, May 28th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating, three have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $77.40.

Spire Price Performance

Shares of NYSE SR opened at $74.06 on Monday. 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 fifty-two week low of $58.64 and a fifty-two week high of $79.81. The firm has a market capitalization of $4.37 billion, a PE ratio of 18.24, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.52 and a beta of 0.62. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $74.10 and its 200-day simple moving average is $73.48.

Spire (NYSE:SR) last issued 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 return on equity of 8.49% and a net margin of 10.22%. The business had revenue of $1.05 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.15 billion. During the same period last year, the business posted $3.45 EPS. Spire’s revenue was down 6.8% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Spire Inc. will post 4.5 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Spire Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, July 2nd. Shareholders of record on Friday, April 11th were given a dividend of $0.785 per share. This represents a $3.14 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.24%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, June 11th. Spire’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 77.34%.

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.