Meiji Yasuda Asset Management Co Ltd. Sells 6,307 Shares of Spire Inc. $SR

Meiji Yasuda Asset Management Co Ltd. lessened its position in Spire Inc. (NYSE:SR) by 6.5% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 90,911 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 6,307 shares during the period. Meiji Yasuda Asset Management Co Ltd. owned about 0.15% of Spire worth $7,518,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. MBM Wealth Consultants LLC lifted its stake in shares of Spire by 2.6% in the third quarter. MBM Wealth Consultants LLC now owns 5,507 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $449,000 after buying an additional 140 shares in the last quarter. Private Advisor Group LLC lifted its stake in shares of Spire by 2.4% in the third quarter. Private Advisor Group LLC now owns 7,402 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $603,000 after buying an additional 176 shares in the last quarter. Signaturefd LLC lifted its stake in shares of Spire by 18.9% in the fourth quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 1,152 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $95,000 after buying an additional 183 shares in the last quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of Spire by 24.2% in the third quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC now owns 975 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $80,000 after buying an additional 190 shares in the last quarter. Finally, M&T Bank Corp raised its holdings in shares of Spire by 4.3% during the fourth quarter. M&T Bank Corp now owns 5,472 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $452,000 after purchasing an additional 226 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 87.36% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Spire news, Director Paul D. Koonce bought 2,000 shares of Spire stock in a transaction on Friday, May 8th. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $85.81 per share, with a total value of $171,620.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director owned 7,000 shares in the company, valued at approximately $600,670. This represents a 40.00% increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 2.26% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

SR has been the subject of several research reports. TD Cowen initiated coverage on shares of Spire in a report on Thursday, April 16th. They set a “hold” rating and a $101.00 price objective for the company. UBS Group decreased their price objective on shares of Spire from $106.00 to $103.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Friday, May 8th. Weiss Ratings raised shares of Spire from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a report on Thursday, February 5th. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their price objective on shares of Spire from $81.00 to $87.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 28th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company initiated coverage on shares of Spire in a report on Monday, May 11th. They set an “overweight” rating and a $96.00 price objective for the company. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, six have given a Buy rating and three have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $94.90.

Spire Stock Up 0.2%

SR opened at $86.85 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.48, a current ratio of 0.55 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.69. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $90.21 and a 200-day moving average price of $87.52. Spire Inc. has a twelve month low of $71.24 and a twelve month high of $95.31. The stock has a market capitalization of $5.13 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.26, a PEG ratio of 1.94 and a beta of 0.56.

Spire (NYSE:SR) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, May 6th. The utilities provider reported $3.76 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.72 by $0.04. Spire had a net margin of 13.97% and a return on equity of 9.49%. The firm had revenue of $1.02 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.07 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $3.60 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 4.5% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts forecast that Spire Inc. will post 4 earnings per share for the current year.

Spire Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, July 2nd. Shareholders of record on Thursday, June 11th will be issued a dividend of $0.825 per share. This represents a $3.30 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.8%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, June 11th. Spire’s dividend payout ratio is currently 58.00%.

Spire Profile

Spire Inc (NYSE: SR), formerly known as The Laclede Group, is a regulated natural gas distribution company headquartered in St. Louis, Missouri. Through its three operating divisions—Spire Missouri, Spire Alabama and Spire Mississippi—the company delivers natural gas to more than 1.7 million residential, commercial and industrial customers. Spire’s service territory spans key markets in the central and southern United States, including metropolitan St. Louis, central Alabama and central Mississippi.

Founded in 1857 as the Laclede Gas Light Company, the business has grown through strategic acquisitions, notably Alabama Gas Corporation in 2013 and Mississippi Gas in 2016.