Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. Sells 24,557 Shares of Spire Inc. (NYSE:SR)

Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. lessened its stake in Spire Inc. (NYSE:SR - Free Report) by 98.6% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 358 shares of the utilities provider's stock after selling 24,557 shares during the period. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc.'s holdings in Spire were worth $28,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in Spire by 0.8% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 6,168,221 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $418,390,000 after purchasing an additional 46,434 shares during the period. Wellington Management Group LLP increased its holdings in Spire by 29.0% during the 4th quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 1,022,870 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $69,381,000 after purchasing an additional 229,662 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its holdings in Spire by 1.6% during the 4th quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,002,938 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $68,028,000 after purchasing an additional 15,835 shares during the period. Northern Trust Corp increased its holdings in Spire by 13.0% during the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 845,612 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $57,358,000 after purchasing an additional 97,573 shares during the period. Finally, Nuveen Asset Management LLC increased its holdings in Spire by 5.4% during the 4th quarter. Nuveen Asset Management LLC now owns 836,521 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $56,741,000 after purchasing an additional 42,934 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 87.36% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on SR. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price target on Spire from $85.00 to $83.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, May 28th. Wall Street Zen upgraded Spire from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Friday, May 9th. Morgan Stanley upped their target price on Spire from $75.00 to $78.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a report on Thursday, March 20th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price on Spire from $75.00 to $82.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Finally, Guggenheim upped their target price on Spire from $67.00 to $72.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a report on Tuesday, April 1st. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, three have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Spire has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $77.20.

Spire Price Performance

NYSE SR opened at $72.06 on Tuesday. The business's fifty day moving average price is $75.03 and its 200-day moving average price is $73.13. The stock has a market capitalization of $4.25 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.45, a PEG ratio of 2.82 and a beta of 0.63. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.21, a current ratio of 0.50 and a quick ratio of 0.37. Spire Inc. has a 1-year low of $58.09 and a 1-year high of $79.81.

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

Spire Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, July 2nd. Stockholders of record on Friday, April 11th will be issued a dividend of $0.785 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, June 11th. This represents a $3.14 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.36%. Spire's payout ratio is 77.34%.

Spire Company 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.

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