Short Interest in Spire Inc. (NYSE:SR) Declines By 25.6%

Spire Inc. (NYSE:SR) saw a significant drop in short interest in March. As of March 15th, there was short interest totalling 1,450,000 shares, a drop of 25.6% from the February 29th total of 1,950,000 shares. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 540,700 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 2.7 days.

Spire Trading Up 1.3 %

Shares of SR stock opened at $61.38 on Friday. Spire has a 1 year low of $53.77 and a 1 year high of $72.07. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $59.44 and a 200-day moving average price of $59.67. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.16, a current ratio of 0.55 and a quick ratio of 0.43. The company has a market cap of $3.37 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.54, a PEG ratio of 2.48 and a beta of 0.51.

Spire (NYSE:SR) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 1st. The utilities provider reported $1.47 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.37 by $0.10. Spire had a net margin of 8.11% and a return on equity of 8.27%. The firm had revenue of $756.60 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $688.88 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $1.55 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 7.1% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts predict that Spire will post 4.34 earnings per share for the current year.

Spire Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 2nd. Investors of record on Monday, March 11th will be issued a $0.755 dividend. This represents a $3.02 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.92%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, March 8th. Spire’s dividend payout ratio is currently 81.40%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Treasurer Adam W. Woodard sold 1,229 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, March 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $59.58, for a total value of $73,223.82. Following the sale, the treasurer now owns 1,560 shares in the company, valued at $92,944.80. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. In other Spire news, insider Joseph B. Hampton sold 1,294 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $58.13, for a total value of $75,220.22. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 6,768 shares in the company, valued at $393,423.84. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, Treasurer Adam W. Woodard sold 1,229 shares of Spire stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $59.58, for a total transaction of $73,223.82. Following the transaction, the treasurer now owns 1,560 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $92,944.80. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 2.86% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. BlackRock Inc. raised its position in shares of Spire by 5.9% during the 2nd quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 7,152,053 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $453,726,000 after buying an additional 396,807 shares in the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. grew its holdings in Spire by 0.8% during the 3rd quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 6,968,088 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $394,254,000 after purchasing an additional 52,893 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in Spire by 0.6% during the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 5,583,880 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $315,936,000 after purchasing an additional 36,022 shares during the last quarter. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC grew its stake in Spire by 70,596.2% in the 4th quarter. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC now owns 4,264,392 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $293,646,000 after acquiring an additional 4,258,360 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Fuller & Thaler Asset Management Inc. grew its stake in Spire by 126.0% in the 3rd quarter. Fuller & Thaler Asset Management Inc. now owns 3,501,638 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $198,123,000 after acquiring an additional 1,951,969 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 87.36% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Separately, Mizuho decreased their price objective on shares of Spire from $66.00 to $64.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Monday, January 22nd. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating and one has issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $61.43.

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.