Spire Inc. (NYSE:SR) Shares Sold by Franklin Resources Inc.

Franklin Resources Inc. trimmed its position in shares of Spire Inc. (NYSE:SR) by 6.9% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 674,538 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 50,058 shares during the period. Franklin Resources Inc. owned 1.16% of Spire worth $45,754,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Wellington Management Group LLP lifted its holdings in Spire by 29.0% in the fourth quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 1,022,870 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $69,381,000 after purchasing an additional 229,662 shares during the period. Physician Wealth Advisors Inc. acquired a new stake in Spire in the 4th quarter valued at about $68,000. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Spire during the 4th quarter valued at about $42,432,000. Blair William & Co. IL grew its stake in shares of Spire by 2.6% in the 4th quarter. Blair William & Co. IL now owns 6,027 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $409,000 after purchasing an additional 152 shares during the last quarter. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. grew its position in Spire by 48.0% in the fourth quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 428,701 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $29,079,000 after buying an additional 138,971 shares during the last quarter. 87.36% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts have issued reports on the company. Guggenheim boosted their price objective on Spire from $67.00 to $72.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday. Janney Montgomery Scott began coverage on shares of Spire in a research note on Tuesday, December 17th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $73.00 price target on the stock. Morgan Stanley raised their price objective on shares of Spire from $75.00 to $78.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 20th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised shares of Spire from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and boosted their target price for the stock from $72.00 to $85.00 in a research report on Thursday, March 20th. Finally, Mizuho raised 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. Eight analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, three have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $75.64.

Spire Trading Down 4.0 %

Shares of SR stock opened at $75.89 on Friday. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $75.04 and its 200 day simple moving average is $69.98. The firm has a market capitalization of $4.43 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.37, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.82 and a beta of 0.53. The company has a current ratio of 0.50, a quick ratio of 0.37 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.21. Spire Inc. has a 1 year low of $57.27 and a 1 year high of $79.81.

Spire (NYSE:SR) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, February 5th. The utilities provider reported $1.34 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.42 by ($0.08). Spire had a net margin of 9.70% and a return on equity of 7.88%. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Spire Inc. will post 4.5 EPS for the current year.

Spire Cuts Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, April 2nd. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, March 11th were given a $0.785 dividend. This represents a $3.14 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.14%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, March 11th. Spire’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 76.03%.

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.