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 0.5% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 3,891,179 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 18,051 shares during the period. American Century Companies Inc. owned approximately 6.67% of Spire worth $263,939,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in SR. Captrust Financial Advisors acquired a new position in Spire during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $39,228,000. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. acquired a new position in Spire during the 4th quarter worth approximately $8,277,000. Bank of New York Mellon Corp increased its position in Spire by 15.8% during the 4th quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 778,442 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $52,802,000 after purchasing an additional 106,386 shares during the period. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans increased its position in Spire by 13.2% during the 4th quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans now owns 731,682 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $49,630,000 after purchasing an additional 85,476 shares during the period. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Spire by 5.5% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,385,452 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $93,244,000 after acquiring an additional 71,798 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 87.36% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts have recently commented on the company. 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. Janney Montgomery Scott assumed coverage on Spire in a research note on Tuesday, December 17th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $73.00 price target on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised Spire from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and boosted their price target for the stock from $72.00 to $85.00 in a research note on Thursday. Morgan Stanley boosted their price target on Spire from $75.00 to $78.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday. Finally, LADENBURG THALM/SH SH raised Spire to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday, March 17th. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, three have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $76.00.

Spire Price Performance

SR stock opened at $76.31 on Friday. Spire Inc. has a 1 year low of $57.27 and a 1 year high of $78.83. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.21, a quick ratio of 0.37 and a current ratio of 0.50. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $73.30 and its 200 day moving average price is $69.16. The firm has a market cap of $4.45 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.48, a PEG ratio of 2.82 and a beta of 0.53.

Spire (NYSE:SR) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, February 5th. The utilities provider reported $1.34 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.42 by ($0.08). Spire had a net margin of 9.70% and a return on equity of 7.88%. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Spire Inc. will post 4.5 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Spire Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 2nd. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, March 11th will be paid a dividend of $0.785 per share. This represents a $3.14 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.11%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, March 11th. Spire’s dividend payout ratio is presently 76.03%.

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.