Legato Capital Management LLC Has $1.06 Million Stock Holdings in Spire Inc. (NYSE:SR)

Legato Capital Management LLC decreased its stake in shares of Spire Inc. (NYSE:SR) by 36.9% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 15,625 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 9,119 shares during the period. Legato Capital Management LLC’s holdings in Spire were worth $1,060,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. State Street Corp boosted its position in Spire by 1.4% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 3,154,230 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $214,535,000 after buying an additional 44,969 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Spire by 5.5% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,385,452 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $93,244,000 after acquiring an additional 71,798 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its holdings in Spire by 4.7% in the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 805,932 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $54,231,000 after acquiring an additional 36,214 shares during the last quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans boosted its holdings in Spire by 0.3% in the third quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans now owns 646,206 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $43,483,000 after acquiring an additional 1,681 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Captrust Financial Advisors acquired a new stake in Spire in the third quarter worth about $39,228,000. Institutional investors own 87.36% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts have recently issued reports on SR shares. 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 target price on the stock. LADENBURG THALM/SH SH cut shares of Spire from a “neutral” rating to a “sell” rating and reduced their price objective for the company from $65.50 to $60.50 in a research note on Thursday, October 17th. StockNews.com raised shares of Spire from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, February 6th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price target on Spire from $73.00 to $75.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 21st. Finally, Morgan Stanley decreased their price objective on Spire from $77.00 to $75.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, November 22nd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $71.50.

Spire Trading Up 0.1 %

Shares of NYSE SR opened at $73.00 on Thursday. Spire Inc. has a twelve month low of $56.99 and a twelve month high of $73.64. The stock has a market cap of $4.26 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.68, a P/E/G ratio of 2.76 and a beta of 0.58. The company has a quick ratio of 0.30, a current ratio of 0.50 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.21. The company’s fifty day moving average is $68.91 and its 200-day moving average is $67.14.

Spire (NYSE:SR) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, February 5th. The utilities provider reported $1.34 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.42 by ($0.08). Spire had a return on equity of 7.88% and a net margin of 9.70%. Equities research analysts predict that Spire Inc. will post 4.51 EPS for the current year.

Spire Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 2nd. Investors of record on Tuesday, March 11th will be given a $0.785 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, March 11th. This represents a $3.14 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.30%. Spire’s dividend payout ratio is presently 76.03%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Director Paul D. Koonce purchased 1,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 2nd. The shares were bought at an average cost of $73.61 per share, for a total transaction of $73,610.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director now directly owns 2,425 shares in the company, valued at approximately $178,504.25. This trade represents a 70.18 % increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Treasurer Adam W. Woodard sold 1,150 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, December 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $67.47, for a total value of $77,590.50. Following the transaction, the treasurer now owns 2,587 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $174,544.89. The trade was a 30.77 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 2.33% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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.