OLD Republic International Corp Sells 94,000 Shares of Spire Inc. (NYSE:SR)

OLD Republic International Corp reduced its stake in Spire Inc. (NYSE:SR) by 18.0% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 429,000 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 94,000 shares during the period. OLD Republic International Corp owned about 0.74% of Spire worth $29,099,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in SR. Crossmark Global Holdings Inc. increased its holdings in 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 purchasing an additional 177 shares in the last quarter. Creative Planning grew its holdings in shares of Spire by 2.7% during the third quarter. Creative Planning now owns 7,126 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $480,000 after purchasing an additional 190 shares during the last quarter. Missouri Trust & Investment Co grew its holdings in shares of Spire by 28.6% during the third quarter. Missouri Trust & Investment Co now owns 900 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $61,000 after purchasing an additional 200 shares during the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC raised its holdings 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 buying an additional 204 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Verdence Capital Advisors LLC raised its holdings 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 buying an additional 228 shares during the last quarter. 87.36% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

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

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Paul D. Koonce acquired 1,000 shares of Spire stock in a transaction on Monday, December 2nd. The stock was purchased at an average price of $73.61 per share, with a total value of $73,610.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the director now owns 2,425 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $178,504.25. The trade was a 70.18 % increase in their position. The purchase 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 business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, December 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $67.47, for a total value 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. Corporate insiders own 2.33% of the company’s stock.

Spire Stock Performance

SR stock opened at $75.11 on Monday. The firm has a market cap of $4.38 billion, a PE ratio of 18.19, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.82 and a beta of 0.58. The company has a current ratio of 0.50, a quick ratio of 0.37 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.21. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $69.61 and a 200-day moving average price of $67.60. Spire Inc. has a 1-year low of $57.27 and a 1-year high of $75.70.

Spire (NYSE:SR) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, February 5th. The utilities provider reported $1.34 EPS 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%. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Spire Inc. will post 4.5 earnings per share for the current year.

Spire Cuts Dividend

The business 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. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, March 11th. This represents a $3.14 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.18%. Spire’s 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.