Prudential Financial Inc. Sells 16,525 Shares of Spire Inc. (NYSE:SR)

Prudential Financial Inc. lowered its position in Spire Inc. (NYSE:SR - Free Report) by 70.4% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 6,940 shares of the utilities provider's stock after selling 16,525 shares during the quarter. Prudential Financial Inc.'s holdings in Spire were worth $471,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of SR. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. bought a new position in Spire in the 4th quarter valued at about $8,277,000. Bank of New York Mellon Corp increased its stake in shares of Spire by 15.8% during the fourth quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 778,442 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $52,802,000 after purchasing an additional 106,386 shares during the period. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans lifted its holdings in Spire by 13.2% during the 4th quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans now owns 731,682 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $49,630,000 after purchasing an additional 85,476 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in Spire by 5.5% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,385,452 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $93,244,000 after purchasing an additional 71,798 shares during the period. Finally, Barclays PLC grew its holdings in Spire by 127.8% in the 3rd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 109,372 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $7,360,000 after buying an additional 61,357 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 87.36% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

SR has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upgraded shares of Spire from a "neutral" rating to an "overweight" rating and increased their target price for the stock from $72.00 to $85.00 in a research report on Thursday, March 20th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Spire from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Thursday, April 3rd. Morgan Stanley increased their price target 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. Janney Montgomery Scott started coverage on shares of Spire in a research report on Tuesday, December 17th. They set a "neutral" rating and a $73.00 price objective for the company. Finally, Mizuho raised their target price on Spire from $76.00 to $82.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Wednesday, March 19th. Eight analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, three have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Spire currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $75.64.

Spire Price Performance

SR traded up $0.66 on Tuesday, reaching $76.96. The stock had a trading volume of 25,887 shares, compared to its average volume of 433,340. 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 company has a market capitalization of $4.49 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.63, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.82 and a beta of 0.56. Spire Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $57.27 and a fifty-two week high of $79.81. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $75.61 and a 200-day moving average of $70.43.

Spire (NYSE:SR - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 5th. The utilities provider reported $1.34 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.42 by ($0.08). Spire had a net margin of 9.70% and a return on equity of 7.88%. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Spire Inc. will post 4.5 EPS for the current year.

Spire Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, April 2nd. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, March 11th were issued a dividend of $0.785 per share. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, March 11th. This represents a $3.14 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.08%. Spire's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 76.03%.

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.