Spire Inc. (NYSE:SR) Shares Sold by Leeward Investments LLC MA

Leeward Investments LLC MA reduced its position in Spire Inc. (NYSE:SR) by 7.0% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 114,712 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 8,575 shares during the quarter. Leeward Investments LLC MA owned about 0.20% of Spire worth $7,781,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Captrust Financial Advisors acquired a new position in Spire during the third quarter worth $39,228,000. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. acquired a new position in Spire during the fourth quarter worth about $8,277,000. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its position in Spire by 5.5% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,385,452 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $93,244,000 after buying an additional 71,798 shares during the period. Barclays PLC raised its holdings in Spire by 127.8% during the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 109,372 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $7,360,000 after purchasing an additional 61,357 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Cynosure Group LLC acquired a new position in Spire during the third quarter worth $4,067,000. 87.36% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages recently issued reports on SR. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on Spire from $73.00 to $75.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, November 21st. StockNews.com cut shares of Spire from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Friday, February 14th. Mizuho raised shares of Spire from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and increased their price objective for the company from $65.00 to $76.00 in a research note on Friday, December 20th. UBS Group increased their price objective on shares of Spire from $75.00 to $80.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 21st. Finally, Janney Montgomery Scott initiated coverage on Spire in a research report on Tuesday, December 17th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $73.00 price objective for the company. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Spire presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $71.50.

Spire Stock Performance

NYSE:SR opened at $75.11 on Monday. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $69.61 and a 200-day simple moving average of $67.60. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.21, a current ratio of 0.50 and a quick ratio of 0.37. The firm has a market cap of $4.38 billion, a PE ratio of 18.19, a P/E/G ratio of 2.82 and a beta of 0.58. Spire Inc. has a 1-year low of $57.27 and a 1-year high of $75.70.

Spire (NYSE:SR) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 5th. The utilities provider reported $1.34 earnings per share (EPS) 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%. On average, equities analysts expect that Spire Inc. will post 4.5 EPS for the current year.

Spire Cuts Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 2nd. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, March 11th will be paid a dividend of $0.785 per share. This represents a $3.14 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.18%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, March 11th. Spire’s dividend payout ratio is currently 76.03%.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Paul D. Koonce purchased 1,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, December 2nd. The stock was bought at an average cost of $73.61 per share, for a total transaction of $73,610.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the director now directly owns 2,425 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $178,504.25. The trade was a 70.18 % increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Treasurer Adam W. Woodard sold 1,150 shares of the company’s 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 sale, the treasurer now owns 2,587 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $174,544.89. This represents a 30.77 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 2.33% of the company’s stock.

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.