Commonwealth Equity Services LLC Lowers Stock Holdings in Spire Inc. (NYSE:SR)

Commonwealth Equity Services LLC cut its holdings in Spire Inc. (NYSE:SR) by 10.9% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 8,276 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 1,011 shares during the quarter. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC’s holdings in Spire were worth $561,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its position in shares of Spire by 5.5% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,385,452 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $93,244,000 after purchasing an additional 71,798 shares during the last quarter. KBC Group NV increased its stake in Spire by 48.2% during the 4th quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 2,307 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $156,000 after buying an additional 750 shares in the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp raised its holdings 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 valued at $52,802,000 after acquiring an additional 106,386 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its position in shares of Spire by 3.6% in the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 834,647 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $56,614,000 after acquiring an additional 28,715 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Principal Financial Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Spire by 1.9% in the fourth quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 173,374 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $11,760,000 after acquiring an additional 3,163 shares during the last quarter. 87.36% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Spire Stock Performance

Spire stock opened at $75.89 on Friday. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $75.04 and a 200-day simple moving average of $69.98. The stock has a market cap of $4.43 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.37, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.82 and a beta of 0.53. 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 $57.27 and a 1-year high of $79.81.

Spire (NYSE:SR) last released its quarterly earnings data 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 net margin of 9.70% and a return on equity of 7.88%. On average, analysts expect that Spire Inc. will post 4.5 EPS for the current year.

Spire Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, April 2nd. Investors of record on Tuesday, March 11th were given a dividend of $0.785 per share. This represents a $3.14 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.14%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, March 11th. Spire’s payout ratio is 76.03%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research analysts recently commented on the company. Bank of America started coverage on Spire in a research note on Friday, December 13th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $70.00 price objective for the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upgraded shares of Spire from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and increased their target price for the company from $72.00 to $85.00 in a research report on Thursday, March 20th. LADENBURG THALM/SH SH upgraded shares of Spire to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Monday, March 17th. Guggenheim increased their price objective on shares of Spire from $67.00 to $72.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded Spire from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday. Eight investment 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. Based on data from MarketBeat, Spire has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $75.64.

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.