Captrust Financial Advisors Has $102.58 Million Stock Position in Spire Inc. $SR

Captrust Financial Advisors boosted its holdings in shares of Spire Inc. (NYSE:SR) by 1.7% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 1,240,395 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 20,224 shares during the quarter. Captrust Financial Advisors’ holdings in Spire were worth $102,581,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Adage Capital Partners GP L.L.C. boosted its stake in shares of Spire by 158.1% during the 2nd quarter. Adage Capital Partners GP L.L.C. now owns 1,000,000 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $72,990,000 after acquiring an additional 612,500 shares during the period. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of Spire during the 4th quarter worth approximately $46,226,000. Invesco Ltd. raised its stake in Spire by 44.4% in the 3rd quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 846,263 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $68,987,000 after acquiring an additional 260,344 shares during the period. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. raised its stake in Spire by 40.2% in the 4th quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 647,646 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $53,560,000 after acquiring an additional 185,796 shares during the period. Finally, South Street Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in Spire during the 4th quarter valued at $15,213,000. Institutional investors own 87.36% of the company’s stock.

Spire Trading Down 0.5%

SR stock opened at $78.35 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.69, a quick ratio of 0.48 and a current ratio of 0.55. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $86.91 and its 200 day simple moving average is $86.79. Spire Inc. has a 52 week low of $71.24 and a 52 week high of $95.31. The company has a market capitalization of $4.63 billion, a PE ratio of 13.77, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.76 and a beta of 0.52.

Spire (NYSE:SR) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, May 6th. The utilities provider reported $3.76 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.72 by $0.04. Spire had a net margin of 13.97% and a return on equity of 9.49%. The business had revenue of $1.02 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.07 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $3.60 earnings per share. Spire’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.5% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Spire Inc. will post 4.01 earnings per share for the current year.

Spire Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, July 2nd. Stockholders of record on Thursday, June 11th will be given a $0.825 dividend. This represents a $3.30 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.2%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, June 11th. Spire’s payout ratio is presently 58.00%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director Paul D. Koonce acquired 500 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, June 11th. The shares were purchased at an average price of $78.46 per share, for a total transaction of $39,230.00. Following the purchase, the director directly owned 8,000 shares in the company, valued at approximately $627,680. The trade was a 6.67% increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, SVP Ryan L. Hyman sold 3,822 shares of Spire stock in a transaction on Tuesday, June 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $80.51, for a total value of $307,709.22. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president directly owned 14,295 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,150,890.45. This represents a 21.10% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Over the last quarter, insiders bought 3,000 shares of company stock valued at $251,100. 2.26% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

SR has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Wolfe Research initiated coverage on shares of Spire in a research report on Tuesday, May 26th. They set a “peer perform” rating for the company. Morgan Stanley set a $96.00 price objective on shares of Spire in a research report on Thursday, May 21st. Wells Fargo & Company began coverage on shares of Spire in a research note on Monday, May 11th. They set an “overweight” rating and a $96.00 target price for the company. UBS Group reduced their target price 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. Finally, Wall Street Zen lowered shares of Spire from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Saturday, May 9th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, five have issued a Buy rating and four have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Spire presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $96.22.

About Spire

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.