Spire Inc. (NYSE:SR) Shares Bought by Envestnet Asset Management Inc.

Envestnet Asset Management Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Spire Inc. (NYSE:SR) by 4.3% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 5,210 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 214 shares during the period. Envestnet Asset Management Inc.’s holdings in Spire were worth $408,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in SR. Cornerstone Wealth Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Spire by 1.7% during the 1st quarter. Cornerstone Wealth Management LLC now owns 7,870 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $616,000 after acquiring an additional 133 shares during the last quarter. UMB Bank n.a. raised its position in shares of Spire by 3.2% during the first quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 4,915 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $385,000 after purchasing an additional 151 shares during the period. Gamco Investors INC. ET AL lifted its holdings in shares of Spire by 2.3% during the fourth quarter. Gamco Investors INC. ET AL now owns 9,050 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $614,000 after purchasing an additional 200 shares during the last quarter. Blue Trust Inc. boosted its position in shares of Spire by 20.5% in the 1st quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 1,305 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $102,000 after purchasing an additional 222 shares during the period. Finally, iSAM Funds UK Ltd increased its stake in Spire by 2.5% in the 4th quarter. iSAM Funds UK Ltd now owns 9,798 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $665,000 after purchasing an additional 239 shares in the last quarter. 87.36% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts have commented on SR shares. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Spire from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, May 9th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price target on shares of Spire from $85.00 to $83.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, May 28th. Morgan Stanley restated an “underperform” rating on shares of Spire in a research report on Wednesday, June 18th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on shares of Spire from $75.00 to $82.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus set a $81.00 price objective on shares of Spire and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 15th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating, three have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $78.60.

Spire Stock Down 0.7%

SR stock opened at $74.67 on Thursday. The company has a 50 day moving average of $74.33 and a two-hundred day moving average of $74.69. The company has a market cap of $4.41 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.13, a PEG ratio of 2.35 and a beta of 0.66. Spire Inc. has a 12-month low of $61.56 and a 12-month high of $79.81. The company has a quick ratio of 0.34, a current ratio of 0.37 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.08.

Spire (NYSE:SR) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, August 5th. The utilities provider reported $0.01 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.09) by $0.10. Spire had a net margin of 11.56% and a return on equity of 8.66%. The business had revenue of $421.90 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $417.27 million. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted ($0.14) earnings per share. Spire’s revenue for the quarter was up 1.9% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Spire Inc. will post 4.5 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Spire Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, October 2nd. Stockholders of record on Thursday, September 11th will be paid a dividend of $0.785 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, September 11th. This represents a $3.14 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.2%. Spire’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 77.34%.

About Spire

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.