First Trust Advisors LP Sells 57,707 Shares of Spire Inc. (NYSE:SR)

First Trust Advisors LP reduced its position in shares of Spire Inc. (NYSE:SR - Free Report) by 6.5% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 828,201 shares of the utilities provider's stock after selling 57,707 shares during the quarter. First Trust Advisors LP owned about 1.42% of Spire worth $56,177,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in SR. Norges Bank bought a new stake in Spire during the 4th quarter worth approximately $42,432,000. Wellington Management Group LLP raised its position in Spire by 29.0% in 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 buying an additional 229,662 shares during the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised its position in Spire by 48.0% in the 4th quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 428,701 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $29,079,000 after buying an additional 138,971 shares during the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. bought a new position in Spire during the 4th quarter valued at $8,277,000. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp boosted its holdings in Spire by 15.8% during the 4th quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 778,442 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $52,802,000 after acquiring an additional 106,386 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 87.36% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

SR has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Morgan Stanley upped their target price on Spire from $75.00 to $78.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a report on Thursday, March 20th. Guggenheim lifted their target price on Spire from $67.00 to $72.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 1st. LADENBURG THALM/SH SH upgraded shares of Spire to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Monday, March 17th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised shares of Spire from a "neutral" rating to an "overweight" rating and lifted their price objective for the stock from $72.00 to $85.00 in a research report on Thursday, March 20th. Finally, Mizuho increased their target price on shares of Spire from $76.00 to $82.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 19th. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, three have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $76.70.

Spire Stock Performance

Shares of SR stock traded down $0.26 during trading on Monday, reaching $76.76. 62,522 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 388,103. Spire Inc. has a 1 year low of $57.77 and a 1 year high of $79.81. The company has a market capitalization of $4.48 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.61, a PEG ratio of 2.82 and a beta of 0.56. The company has a current ratio of 0.50, a quick ratio of 0.37 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.21. The firm's 50-day moving average is $76.38 and its 200 day moving average is $71.20.

Spire (NYSE:SR - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 5th. The utilities provider reported $1.34 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates 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 expect that Spire Inc. will post 4.5 EPS 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 Wednesday, June 11th will be issued a $0.785 dividend. This represents a $3.14 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.09%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, June 11th. Spire's payout ratio is 76.03%.

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.