Principal Financial Group Inc. trimmed its holdings in Spire Inc. (NYSE:SR – Free Report) by 28.2% in the 1st quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 188,375 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 73,867 shares during the quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc.’s holdings in Spire were worth $17,055,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.
Other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Optima Capital LLC bought a new stake in shares of Spire during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $25,000. Sound Income Strategies LLC purchased a new position in shares of Spire in the fourth quarter worth $25,000. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Spire during the fourth quarter worth $25,000. MV Capital Management Inc. bought a new position in shares of Spire during the fourth quarter worth $33,000. Finally, SHP Wealth Management purchased a new position in Spire during the fourth quarter valued at $35,000. 87.36% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.
Insider Buying and Selling at Spire
In other news, Director Paul D. Koonce bought 500 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, June 11th. The stock was purchased at an average price of $78.46 per share, for a total transaction of $39,230.00. Following the acquisition, the director owned 8,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $627,680. The trade was a 6.67% increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, SVP Ryan L. Hyman sold 3,822 shares of Spire stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, June 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $80.51, for a total transaction of $307,709.22. Following the transaction, the senior vice president directly owned 14,295 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,150,890.45. This represents a 21.10% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. In the last three months, insiders bought 3,000 shares of company stock worth $251,100. Insiders own 2.26% of the company’s stock.
Analysts Set New Price Targets
View Our Latest Stock Report on SR
Spire Price Performance
NYSE:SR opened at $82.18 on Thursday. The firm has a market capitalization of $4.86 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.44, a PEG ratio of 1.80 and a beta of 0.52. 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 business has a 50 day simple moving average of $81.30 and a 200-day simple moving average of $86.06. Spire Inc. has a 1 year low of $71.24 and a 1 year high of $95.31.
Spire (NYSE:SR – Get Free Report) last released its earnings results 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. The firm had revenue of $1.02 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.07 billion. Spire had a return on equity of 9.49% and a net margin of 13.97%.The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $3.60 EPS. Equities analysts forecast that Spire Inc. will post 4.02 EPS for the current year.
Spire Dividend Announcement
The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, July 2nd. Stockholders of record on Thursday, June 11th were paid a $0.825 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, June 11th. This represents a $3.30 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.0%. Spire’s dividend payout ratio is currently 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.
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