Man Group plc Sells 44,609 Shares of Spire Inc. (NYSE:SR)

Man Group plc trimmed its position in shares of Spire Inc. (NYSE:SR - Free Report) by 34.1% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 86,393 shares of the utilities provider's stock after selling 44,609 shares during the period. Man Group plc owned approximately 0.15% of Spire worth $5,860,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Golden State Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Spire during the fourth quarter valued at $27,000. Lee Danner & Bass Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Spire during the 4th quarter worth about $32,000. R Squared Ltd bought a new position in Spire during the 4th quarter valued at about $37,000. Capital Advisors Ltd. LLC boosted its position in Spire by 431.4% in the fourth quarter. Capital Advisors Ltd. LLC now owns 627 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $43,000 after buying an additional 509 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Physician Wealth Advisors Inc. acquired a new position in Spire in the fourth quarter valued at about $68,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 87.36% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have weighed in on SR shares. Mizuho boosted their target price on shares of Spire from $76.00 to $82.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 19th. LADENBURG THALM/SH SH raised Spire to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Friday, May 9th. Wall Street Zen upgraded Spire from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Friday, May 9th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upgraded 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, Guggenheim raised their price target on Spire from $67.00 to $72.00 and gave the company 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 given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $77.40.

Spire Trading Up 1.7%

Shares of Spire stock traded up $1.23 during trading on Monday, hitting $74.70. 385,455 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 394,895. The firm has a market capitalization of $4.41 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.09, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.82 and a beta of 0.65. The firm's fifty day moving average price is $75.92 and its 200 day moving average price is $72.60. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.21, a current ratio of 0.50 and a quick ratio of 0.37. Spire Inc. has a 1-year low of $57.77 and a 1-year high of $79.81.

Spire (NYSE:SR - Get Free Report) last posted its 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). Spire had a return on equity of 7.88% and a net margin of 9.70%. The business had revenue of $1.05 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.15 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $3.45 earnings per share. The business's revenue was down 6.8% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Spire Inc. will post 4.5 earnings per share for the current fiscal 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 paid a $0.785 dividend. This represents a $3.14 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.20%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, June 11th. 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.