Spire Inc. (NYSE:SR) Shares Sold by American Century Companies Inc.

American Century Companies Inc. decreased its holdings in shares of Spire Inc. (NYSE:SR) by 18.5% in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 4,105,943 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 930,042 shares during the quarter. American Century Companies Inc. owned about 7.11% of Spire worth $249,354,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. International Assets Investment Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Spire in the second quarter valued at $31,000. LRI Investments LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Spire in the first quarter valued at $35,000. Fidelis Capital Partners LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Spire in the first quarter valued at $37,000. EntryPoint Capital LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Spire in the first quarter valued at $47,000. Finally, Blue Trust Inc. grew its stake in shares of Spire by 26.8% in the second quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 761 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $47,000 after buying an additional 161 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 87.36% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director Maria V. Fogarty sold 6,590 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $65.15, for a total value of $429,338.50. Following the sale, the director now owns 9,800 shares in the company, valued at approximately $638,470. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In related news, VP Gerard J. Gorla sold 500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, August 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $64.82, for a total value of $32,410.00. Following the sale, the vice president now owns 7,311 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $473,899.02. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, Director Maria V. Fogarty sold 6,590 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $65.15, for a total value of $429,338.50. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 9,800 shares in the company, valued at approximately $638,470. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 2.86% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have recently weighed in on SR shares. Morgan Stanley dropped their price objective on Spire from $67.00 to $64.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, June 24th. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their target price on Spire from $64.00 to $70.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 1st. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and one has issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $62.50.

Spire Stock Performance

NYSE SR opened at $64.77 on Thursday. The company has a current ratio of 0.48, a quick ratio of 0.35 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.11. The business’s 50 day moving average is $64.67 and its two-hundred day moving average is $61.82. Spire Inc. has a 12-month low of $53.77 and a 12-month high of $68.02. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.74 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.36, a PEG ratio of 3.10 and a beta of 0.52.

Spire (NYSE:SR) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, July 31st. The utilities provider reported ($0.14) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of ($0.18) by $0.04. Spire had a return on equity of 8.10% and a net margin of 9.40%. The company had revenue of $414.10 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $313.86 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted ($0.42) EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 1.1% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts expect that Spire Inc. will post 4.23 EPS for the current year.

Spire Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, October 2nd. Investors of record on Wednesday, September 11th will be issued a $0.755 dividend. This represents a $3.02 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.66%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, September 11th. Spire’s dividend payout ratio is currently 76.26%.

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.