Congress Asset Management Co. Sells 3,156 Shares of Spire Inc. (NYSE:SR)

Congress Asset Management Co. trimmed its position in shares of Spire Inc. (NYSE:SR) by 4.9% during the first quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 60,941 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 3,156 shares during the quarter. Congress Asset Management Co.’s holdings in Spire were worth $4,769,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. GAMMA Investing LLC grew its position in shares of Spire by 12,888.1% in the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 56,888 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $4,451,000 after purchasing an additional 56,450 shares during the period. Wellington Management Group LLP lifted its stake in Spire by 29.0% in the fourth quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 1,022,870 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $69,381,000 after buying an additional 229,662 shares in the last quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Spire by 19.5% in the fourth quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC now owns 4,989 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $338,000 after buying an additional 815 shares during the period. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC increased its position in shares of Spire by 2.9% during the fourth quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 193,065 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $13,096,000 after acquiring an additional 5,454 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Zimmer Partners LP bought a new stake in shares of Spire during the fourth quarter worth $30,083,000. 87.36% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts recently commented on SR shares. Mizuho boosted their price objective on shares of Spire from $76.00 to $82.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 19th. Wall Street Zen upgraded Spire from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, May 9th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on Spire from $75.00 to $82.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Morgan Stanley lifted their target price on Spire from $75.00 to $78.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 20th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their target price on Spire from $85.00 to $83.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, May 28th. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, three have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Spire currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $77.20.

Spire Stock Performance

SR opened at $73.60 on Monday. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $75.32 and its 200 day simple moving average is $73.11. Spire Inc. has a 52-week low of $57.77 and a 52-week high of $79.81. 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 firm has a market capitalization of $4.34 billion, a PE ratio of 17.82, a PEG ratio of 2.82 and a beta of 0.63.

Spire (NYSE:SR) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 30th. The utilities provider reported $3.60 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.70 by ($0.10). The company had revenue of $1.05 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.15 billion. Spire had a return on equity of 7.88% and a net margin of 9.70%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 6.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $3.45 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Spire Inc. will post 4.5 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Spire Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, July 2nd. Shareholders of record on Friday, April 11th will be paid a $0.785 dividend. This represents a $3.14 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.27%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, June 11th. Spire’s dividend payout ratio is currently 77.34%.

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.