Fruth Investment Management Trims Stock Holdings in Spire Inc. (NYSE:SR)

Fruth Investment Management lowered its stake in Spire Inc. (NYSE:SR) by 4.9% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 9,800 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 500 shares during the quarter. Fruth Investment Management’s holdings in Spire were worth $664,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of SR. Algert Global LLC purchased a new position in shares of Spire during the second quarter worth $337,000. Creative Planning grew its position in Spire by 9.1% in the 2nd quarter. Creative Planning now owns 6,936 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $421,000 after acquiring an additional 576 shares in the last quarter. Truist Financial Corp acquired a new position in shares of Spire in the second quarter valued at approximately $587,000. SG Americas Securities LLC boosted its position in Spire by 35.2% in the 3rd quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 16,698 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,124,000 after buying an additional 4,351 shares during the period. Finally, CWM LLC boosted its position in Spire by 5.8% in the 3rd quarter. CWM LLC now owns 17,676 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,189,000 after buying an additional 969 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 87.36% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms have recently weighed in on SR. Stifel Nicolaus cut their price objective on Spire from $70.00 to $69.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, November 22nd. Mizuho upgraded Spire from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and upped their price target for the stock from $65.00 to $76.00 in a report on Friday, December 20th. Morgan Stanley decreased their price objective on Spire from $77.00 to $75.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, November 22nd. Bank of America initiated coverage on shares of Spire in a research note on Friday, December 13th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $70.00 target price on the stock. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded shares of Spire from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Sunday, January 19th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $71.50.

Insider Activity at Spire

In other Spire news, Director Paul D. Koonce purchased 1,000 shares of Spire stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 2nd. The stock was purchased at an average price of $73.61 per share, for a total transaction of $73,610.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 2,425 shares in the company, valued at $178,504.25. This trade represents a 70.18 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Treasurer Adam W. Woodard sold 1,150 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, December 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $67.47, for a total transaction of $77,590.50. Following the sale, the treasurer now owns 2,587 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $174,544.89. This represents a 30.77 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 2.33% of the company’s stock.

Spire Stock Performance

Shares of SR opened at $71.28 on Thursday. The company has a market capitalization of $4.12 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.54, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.71 and a beta of 0.58. Spire Inc. has a 52-week low of $56.99 and a 52-week high of $73.64. The company has a quick ratio of 0.30, a current ratio of 0.45 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.24. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $68.98 and a 200 day moving average price of $66.95.

Spire (NYSE:SR) last issued its earnings results 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 9.52% and a return on equity of 8.10%. Research analysts predict that Spire Inc. will post 4.51 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Spire Cuts Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 2nd. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, March 11th will be given a dividend of $0.785 per share. This represents a $3.14 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.41%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, March 11th. Spire’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 72.85%.

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.