Spire Inc. (NYSE:SR) Shares Sold by Prudential Financial Inc.

Prudential Financial Inc. lowered its position in Spire Inc. (NYSE:SR) by 70.4% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 6,940 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 16,525 shares during the period. Prudential Financial Inc.’s holdings in Spire were worth $471,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Golden State Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in Spire during the 4th quarter worth $27,000. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its stake in shares of Spire by 87.2% during the fourth quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 438 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $30,000 after buying an additional 204 shares during the period. Lee Danner & Bass Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Spire during the fourth quarter worth about $32,000. R Squared Ltd acquired a new position in Spire in the 4th quarter valued at about $37,000. Finally, Capital Advisors Ltd. LLC raised its stake in Spire by 431.4% during the 4th quarter. Capital Advisors Ltd. LLC now owns 627 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $43,000 after acquiring an additional 509 shares during the last quarter. 87.36% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts have recently issued reports on SR shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised Spire from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and boosted their target price for the company from $72.00 to $85.00 in a report on Thursday, March 20th. Bank of America assumed coverage on shares of Spire in a research report on Friday, December 13th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $70.00 price objective for the company. Guggenheim lifted their target price on shares of Spire from $67.00 to $72.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 1st. StockNews.com raised shares of Spire from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, April 3rd. Finally, Morgan Stanley lifted their price objective on Spire from $75.00 to $78.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, March 20th. Eight equities research 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 company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $75.64.

Spire Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:SR opened at $74.49 on Thursday. Spire Inc. has a 12 month low of $57.27 and a 12 month high of $79.81. The firm has a market capitalization of $4.35 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.04, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.82 and a beta of 0.56. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $75.38 and its 200-day simple moving average is $70.23. 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 (NYSE:SR) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 5th. The utilities provider reported $1.34 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.42 by ($0.08). Spire had a return on equity of 7.88% and a net margin of 9.70%. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Spire Inc. will post 4.5 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Spire Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, April 2nd. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, March 11th were paid a dividend of $0.785 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, March 11th. This represents a $3.14 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.22%. Spire’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 76.03%.

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.