C2P Capital Advisory Group LLC d.b.a. Prosperity Capital Advisors Makes New $204,000 Investment in Spire Inc. (NYSE:SR)

C2P Capital Advisory Group LLC d.b.a. Prosperity Capital Advisors acquired a new position in Spire Inc. (NYSE:SR) during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund acquired 3,002 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $204,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the business. Crossmark Global Holdings Inc. boosted its position in shares of Spire by 5.2% in the 3rd quarter. Crossmark Global Holdings Inc. now owns 3,572 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $240,000 after buying an additional 177 shares in the last quarter. Creative Planning raised its stake in Spire by 2.7% in the 3rd quarter. Creative Planning now owns 7,126 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $480,000 after purchasing an additional 190 shares during the last quarter. Missouri Trust & Investment Co raised its stake in Spire by 28.6% in the 3rd quarter. Missouri Trust & Investment Co now owns 900 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $61,000 after purchasing an additional 200 shares during the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC raised its stake in Spire by 87.2% in the 4th quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 438 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $30,000 after purchasing an additional 204 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Verdence Capital Advisors LLC raised its stake in Spire by 4.5% in the 3rd quarter. Verdence Capital Advisors LLC now owns 5,327 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $358,000 after purchasing an additional 228 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 recently weighed in on SR. Stifel Nicolaus cut their target price on shares of Spire from $70.00 to $69.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, November 22nd. Mizuho raised shares of Spire from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and boosted their target price for the company from $65.00 to $76.00 in a research note on Friday, December 20th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on shares of Spire from $73.00 to $75.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 21st. Bank of America started coverage on shares of Spire in a research note on Friday, December 13th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $70.00 target price for the company. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded shares of Spire from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Friday. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Spire currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $71.50.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director Paul D. Koonce purchased 1,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction 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 acquisition, the director now directly owns 2,425 shares in the company, valued at $178,504.25. The trade was a 70.18 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Treasurer Adam W. Woodard sold 1,150 shares of the company’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 completion of the transaction, 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. Corporate insiders own 2.33% of the company’s stock.

Spire Stock Up 0.8 %

SR opened at $73.95 on Friday. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $68.98 and a 200 day moving average price of $67.22. The company has a market cap of $4.31 billion, a PE ratio of 17.91, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.76 and a beta of 0.58. Spire Inc. has a 1 year low of $57.27 and a 1 year high of $74.50. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.21, a quick ratio of 0.30 and a current ratio of 0.50.

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 return on equity of 7.88% and a net margin of 9.70%. Sell-side analysts expect that Spire Inc. will post 4.51 earnings per share for the current year.

Spire Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 2nd. Investors 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 yield of 4.25%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, March 11th. Spire’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) 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.