Captrust Financial Advisors Makes New Investment in Spire Inc. (NYSE:SR)

Captrust Financial Advisors purchased a new stake in shares of Spire Inc. (NYSE:SR) in the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor purchased 582,967 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $39,228,000.

Other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Meeder Asset Management Inc. bought a new stake in Spire during the 3rd quarter valued at about $25,000. International Assets Investment Management LLC purchased a new position in Spire in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $31,000. LRI Investments LLC bought a new position in Spire in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $35,000. Larson Financial Group LLC boosted its stake in Spire by 1,318.4% during the 3rd quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC now owns 539 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $36,000 after purchasing an additional 501 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Blue Trust Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Spire by 26.8% in the 2nd quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 761 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $47,000 after purchasing an additional 161 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 87.36% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts have recently issued reports on the company. StockNews.com downgraded Spire from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Friday. Mizuho raised their price target on shares of Spire from $62.00 to $65.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, November 19th. Morgan Stanley reduced their price target on shares of Spire from $77.00 to $75.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, November 22nd. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on shares of Spire from $73.00 to $75.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 21st. Finally, UBS Group lifted their target price on shares of Spire from $75.00 to $80.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 21st. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating and one has assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $69.93.

Spire Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE SR opened at $73.19 on Friday. Spire Inc. has a 12-month low of $56.36 and a 12-month high of $73.64. The firm has a market capitalization of $4.23 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.98, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.24 and a beta of 0.52. The company has a current ratio of 0.45, a quick ratio of 0.30 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.24. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $66.49 and a 200 day moving average of $64.23.

Spire Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, January 3rd. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, December 11th will be given a dividend of $3.14 per share. This is an increase from Spire’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.76. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, December 11th. This represents a $12.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 17.16%. Spire’s payout ratio is presently 72.85%.

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.