Assenagon Asset Management S.A. Raises Stock Holdings in Spire Inc. (NYSE:SR)

Assenagon Asset Management S.A. grew its stake in Spire Inc. (NYSE:SR - Free Report) by 59.6% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 54,533 shares of the utilities provider's stock after buying an additional 20,363 shares during the quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. owned approximately 0.10% of Spire worth $3,347,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of SR. International Assets Investment Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Spire during the fourth quarter worth about $2,001,000. Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. grew its position in shares of Spire by 11.6% during the fourth quarter. Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. now owns 772,012 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $48,127,000 after purchasing an additional 80,405 shares in the last quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. grew its position in shares of Spire by 9.5% during the third quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 24,324 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $1,376,000 after purchasing an additional 2,103 shares in the last quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. grew its position in shares of Spire by 11.9% during the third quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 278,155 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $15,738,000 after purchasing an additional 29,666 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its position in shares of Spire by 5.4% during the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 648,864 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $36,713,000 after purchasing an additional 33,153 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 87.36% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

SR has been the subject of several research analyst reports. UBS Group initiated coverage on Spire in a report on Friday, April 12th. They set a "buy" rating and a $68.00 price target for the company. Mizuho cut Spire from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating and cut their price target for the company from $64.00 to $62.00 in a report on Thursday, May 2nd. Royal Bank of Canada restated a "sector perform" rating and set a $65.00 price target on shares of Spire in a report on Tuesday, April 16th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on Spire from $64.00 to $66.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a report on Thursday, May 2nd. Finally, LADENBURG THALM/SH SH initiated coverage on Spire in a report on Friday, April 26th. They set a "neutral" rating and a $57.50 price target for the company. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating and one has assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $61.72.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Treasurer Adam W. Woodard sold 1,229 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $59.58, for a total value of $73,223.82. Following the completion of the transaction, the treasurer now directly owns 1,560 shares in the company, valued at $92,944.80. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. 2.86% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Spire Trading Up 0.5 %

Shares of NYSE:SR traded up $0.32 during trading on Monday, hitting $62.91. The company had a trading volume of 214,663 shares, compared to its average volume of 475,498. Spire Inc. has a one year low of $53.77 and a one year high of $68.94. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.09, a current ratio of 0.61 and a quick ratio of 0.48. The stock has a market cap of $3.63 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.89, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.89 and a beta of 0.50. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $60.60 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $60.53.

Spire (NYSE:SR - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, May 1st. The utilities provider reported $3.45 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $3.86 by ($0.41). The business had revenue of $1.13 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.21 billion. Spire had a return on equity of 7.88% and a net margin of 9.05%. Spire's revenue was up .5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $3.70 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Spire Inc. will post 4.34 earnings per share for the current year.

Spire Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, July 2nd. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, June 11th will be given a $0.755 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, June 11th. This represents a $3.02 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.80%. Spire's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 76.26%.

Spire 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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