ProShare Advisors LLC Has $37.83 Million Stock Position in Spire Inc. (NYSE:SR)

ProShare Advisors LLC cut its holdings in shares of Spire Inc. (NYSE:SR) by 5.1% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 596,345 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 31,762 shares during the period. ProShare Advisors LLC owned 1.13% of Spire worth $37,832,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the business. Raymond James Financial Services Advisors Inc. lifted its stake in Spire by 2.7% in the first quarter. Raymond James Financial Services Advisors Inc. now owns 5,345 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $384,000 after buying an additional 142 shares during the period. Cohen & Steers Inc. raised its position in shares of Spire by 31.8% in the 1st quarter. Cohen & Steers Inc. now owns 639 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $46,000 after acquiring an additional 154 shares during the period. Federated Hermes Inc. raised its position in shares of Spire by 3.4% in the 1st quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. now owns 6,073 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $436,000 after acquiring an additional 198 shares during the period. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC boosted its stake in Spire by 7.6% during the 1st quarter. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC now owns 4,113 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $288,000 after acquiring an additional 290 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Quadrant Capital Group LLC grew its holdings in Spire by 31.5% during the second quarter. Quadrant Capital Group LLC now owns 1,270 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $81,000 after purchasing an additional 304 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 87.36% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In related news, Treasurer Adam W. Woodard bought 1,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, September 1st. The stock was acquired at an average price of $58.70 per share, with a total value of $58,700.00. Following the transaction, the treasurer now owns 4,190 shares in the company, valued at approximately $245,953. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. In other Spire news, EVP Steven P. Rasche acquired 3,100 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, September 7th. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $30.82 per share, for a total transaction of $95,542.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 34,665 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,068,375.30. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Treasurer Adam W. Woodard purchased 1,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, September 1st. The stock was acquired at an average price of $58.70 per share, with a total value of $58,700.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the treasurer now directly owns 4,190 shares in the company, valued at $245,953. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Insiders have acquired a total of 4,600 shares of company stock valued at $184,717 over the last ninety days. 2.93% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts have recently commented on the company. TheStreet lowered Spire from a “b” rating to a “c+” rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 2nd. Guggenheim cut their price target on shares of Spire from $65.00 to $55.00 in a research note on Monday, October 9th. Mizuho upgraded shares of Spire from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and reduced their price target for the company from $71.00 to $66.00 in a report on Friday, September 29th. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price objective on shares of Spire from $67.00 to $64.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Friday. Finally, Morgan Stanley cut their price objective on shares of Spire from $72.00 to $66.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, October 25th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating and one has given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Spire currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $63.88.

Spire Stock Down 0.7 %

SR opened at $60.95 on Tuesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.21 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.83, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.44 and a beta of 0.50. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.33, a current ratio of 0.61 and a quick ratio of 0.40. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $57.83 and a 200-day moving average price of $61.34. Spire Inc. has a one year low of $53.77 and a one year high of $75.83.

Spire (NYSE:SR) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, November 16th. The utilities provider reported ($0.78) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.64) by ($0.14). The firm had revenue of $310.40 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $337.48 million. Spire had a return on equity of 8.50% and a net margin of 8.16%. Spire’s revenue was down 1.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business earned ($0.66) EPS. Equities research analysts expect that Spire Inc. will post 4.28 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Spire Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, January 3rd. Investors of record on Monday, December 11th will be issued a $0.755 dividend. This is a positive change from Spire’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.72. This represents a $3.02 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.95%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, December 8th. Spire’s payout ratio is presently 74.81%.

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 two segments, Gas Utility and Gas Marketing. It is also involved in the marketing of natural gas.