C2P Capital Advisory Group LLC d.b.a. Prosperity Capital Advisors Buys Shares of 3,002 Spire Inc. (NYSE:SR)

C2P Capital Advisory Group LLC d.b.a. Prosperity Capital Advisors bought a new stake in Spire Inc. (NYSE:SR) in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor bought 3,002 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $204,000.

Several other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of 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 last quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC acquired a new position in shares of Spire in the 3rd quarter valued at $787,000. Cynosure Group LLC acquired a new position in shares of Spire in the 3rd quarter valued at $4,067,000. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC lifted its stake in shares of Spire by 116.2% in the 3rd quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 28,025 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,886,000 after purchasing an additional 15,060 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Entropy Technologies LP lifted its stake in shares of Spire by 175.5% in the 3rd quarter. Entropy Technologies LP now owns 15,637 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,052,000 after purchasing an additional 9,962 shares during the last quarter. 87.36% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have recently commented on SR. Stifel Nicolaus decreased their price target on Spire from $70.00 to $69.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, November 22nd. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on Spire from $73.00 to $75.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 21st. StockNews.com lowered Spire from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Friday, February 14th. Mizuho raised Spire from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and increased their target price for the stock from $65.00 to $76.00 in a research note on Friday, December 20th. Finally, Janney Montgomery Scott started coverage on Spire in a research note on Tuesday, December 17th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $73.00 target price on the stock. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $71.50.

Spire Price Performance

Shares of NYSE SR opened at $74.01 on Friday. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $69.46 and its two-hundred day moving average is $67.48. 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 $74.81. The company has a market cap of $4.32 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.92, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.85 and a beta of 0.58.

Spire (NYSE:SR) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 5th. The utilities provider reported $1.34 earnings per share 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%. Analysts forecast that Spire Inc. will post 4.5 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Spire Cuts Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 2nd. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, March 11th will be issued a dividend of $0.785 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, March 11th. This represents a $3.14 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.24%. Spire’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 76.03%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

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

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.