Spire Inc. (NYSE:SR) Shares Bought by Commerce Bank

Commerce Bank grew its stake in Spire Inc. (NYSE:SR) by 2.2% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 24,186 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after buying an additional 527 shares during the quarter. Commerce Bank’s holdings in Spire were worth $1,627,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Manning & Napier Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Spire in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $2,233,000. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. grew its position in Spire by 197.4% during the second quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 162,195 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $9,850,000 after buying an additional 107,662 shares during the period. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC purchased a new position in Spire in the third quarter valued at $787,000. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in shares of Spire by 1.2% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 5,626,863 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $345,321,000 after acquiring an additional 65,486 shares during the period. Finally, Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC boosted its stake in shares of Spire by 116.2% during the 3rd quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 28,025 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,886,000 after acquiring an additional 15,060 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 87.36% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts recently weighed in on SR shares. Mizuho lifted their price target on Spire from $62.00 to $65.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 19th. StockNews.com cut Spire from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Thursday. LADENBURG THALM/SH SH cut shares of Spire from a “neutral” rating to a “sell” rating and dropped their price target for the company from $65.50 to $60.50 in a research note on Thursday, October 17th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price target on shares of Spire from $73.00 to $75.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday. Finally, UBS Group increased their price objective on shares of Spire from $75.00 to $80.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating and one has issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $68.06.

Spire Stock Performance

SR opened at $72.55 on Friday. Spire Inc. has a twelve month low of $56.36 and a twelve month high of $72.71. The firm has a market capitalization of $4.19 billion, a PE ratio of 16.83, a PEG ratio of 3.13 and a beta of 0.52. The company has a current ratio of 0.45, a quick ratio of 0.35 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.24. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $65.87 and its 200 day moving average price is $63.84.

Spire Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, January 3rd. Investors of record on Wednesday, December 11th will be issued a $3.14 dividend. This represents a $12.56 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 17.31%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, December 11th. This is a boost from Spire’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.76. Spire’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 70.07%.

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.