Dean Capital Management Has $1.69 Million Position in Spire Inc. (NYSE:SR)

Dean Capital Management trimmed its stake in Spire Inc. (NYSE:SR - Free Report) by 40.9% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 24,848 shares of the utilities provider's stock after selling 17,214 shares during the quarter. Dean Capital Management's holdings in Spire were worth $1,685,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in Spire by 0.8% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 6,168,221 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $418,390,000 after buying an additional 46,434 shares during the period. Wellington Management Group LLP grew its stake in Spire by 29.0% during the fourth quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 1,022,870 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $69,381,000 after buying an additional 229,662 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its stake in Spire by 1.6% during the fourth quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,002,938 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $68,028,000 after buying an additional 15,835 shares during the period. Northern Trust Corp grew its stake in Spire by 13.0% during the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 845,612 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $57,358,000 after buying an additional 97,573 shares during the period. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its stake in Spire by 3.6% during the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 834,647 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $56,614,000 after buying an additional 28,715 shares during the period. 87.36% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have recently commented on SR. Morgan Stanley boosted their target price on shares of Spire from $75.00 to $78.00 and gave the stock 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 upped their price target for the company from $72.00 to $85.00 in a report on Thursday, March 20th. LADENBURG THALM/SH SH raised shares of Spire to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Monday, March 17th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on shares of Spire from $75.00 to $82.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Finally, StockNews.com raised shares of Spire from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Friday. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, three have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $77.40.

Spire Price Performance

SR traded down $2.25 on Monday, reaching $72.42. The company had a trading volume of 110,217 shares, compared to its average volume of 388,819. The company has a fifty day moving average of $76.45 and a 200-day moving average of $71.94. The company has a market capitalization of $4.27 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.53, a PEG ratio of 2.82 and a beta of 0.65. 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 one year low of $57.77 and a one year high of $79.81.

Spire (NYSE:SR - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, April 30th. The utilities provider reported $3.60 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $3.70 by ($0.10). Spire had a net margin of 9.70% and a return on equity of 7.88%. The company had revenue of $1.05 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.15 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $3.45 EPS. The business's quarterly revenue was down 6.8% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Spire Inc. will post 4.5 earnings per share for the current year.

Spire Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, July 2nd. Shareholders of record on Friday, April 11th will be issued a $0.785 dividend. This represents a $3.14 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.34%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, June 11th. Spire's payout ratio 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.