CI Investments Inc. Acquires Shares of 22,224 Spire Inc. $SR

CI Investments Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Spire Inc. (NYSE:SR) during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm acquired 22,224 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $2,012,000.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Franklin Resources Inc. increased its position in Spire by 0.3% during the fourth quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 40,489 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $3,348,000 after acquiring an additional 122 shares during the period. Detalus Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in Spire by 2.3% in the 1st quarter. Detalus Advisors LLC now owns 6,200 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $561,000 after purchasing an additional 142 shares during the period. Inspire Investing LLC grew its position in shares of Spire by 2.6% during the 4th quarter. Inspire Investing LLC now owns 5,734 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $474,000 after purchasing an additional 144 shares in the last quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC grew its position in shares of Spire by 40.3% during the 4th quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 519 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $43,000 after purchasing an additional 149 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Parallel Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of Spire by 16.5% during the fourth quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC now owns 1,136 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $94,000 after purchasing an additional 161 shares during the period. 87.36% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity

In related news, Director Paul D. Koonce purchased 500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, June 11th. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $78.46 per share, with a total value of $39,230.00. Following the purchase, the director directly owned 8,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $627,680. This trade represents a 6.67% increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, SVP Ryan L. Hyman sold 3,822 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, June 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $80.51, for a total transaction of $307,709.22. Following the sale, the senior vice president 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 SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders have purchased a total of 3,000 shares of company stock valued at $251,100 over the last 90 days. 2.26% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have recently weighed in on SR. TD Cowen began coverage on shares of Spire in a research report on Thursday, April 16th. They issued a “hold” rating and a $101.00 price target for the company. UBS Group lowered their price objective on Spire from $106.00 to $103.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, May 8th. Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of Spire from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Saturday, May 9th. Wells Fargo & Company started coverage on Spire in a research report on Monday, May 11th. They set an “overweight” rating and a $96.00 price objective for the company. Finally, Wolfe Research began coverage on shares of Spire in a report on Tuesday, May 26th. They set a “peer perform” rating for the company. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, five have assigned a Buy rating and five have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $94.50.

Spire Trading Up 0.8%

Shares of Spire stock opened at $83.17 on Friday. Spire Inc. has a 1 year low of $71.24 and a 1 year high of $95.31. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $81.18 and a 200-day moving average price of $86.04. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.69, a current ratio of 0.55 and a quick ratio of 0.48. The firm has a market cap of $4.92 billion, a PE ratio of 14.62, a P/E/G ratio of 1.84 and a beta of 0.52.

Spire (NYSE:SR) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, May 6th. The utilities provider reported $3.76 EPS for the quarter, beating 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 company had revenue of $1.02 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.07 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $3.60 EPS. Spire’s revenue was up 4.5% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts anticipate that Spire Inc. will post 4.02 EPS for the current year.

Spire Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, July 2nd. Shareholders of record on Thursday, June 11th were given a dividend of $0.825 per share. This represents a $3.30 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.0%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, June 11th. Spire’s dividend payout ratio is presently 58.00%.

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.