Petrus Trust Company LTA Takes $702,000 Position in Spire Inc. (NYSE:SR)

Petrus Trust Company LTA purchased a new position in Spire Inc. (NYSE:SR) during the third quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm purchased 10,429 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $702,000.

Other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Janus Henderson Group PLC increased its holdings in Spire by 13.2% during the third quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 27,072 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,822,000 after buying an additional 3,160 shares during the last quarter. ClearAlpha Technologies LP purchased a new stake in shares of Spire in the 3rd quarter worth $277,000. Verition Fund Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Spire by 46.9% in the 3rd quarter. Verition Fund Management LLC now owns 9,806 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $660,000 after purchasing an additional 3,130 shares in the last quarter. Captrust Financial Advisors bought a new position in Spire in the 3rd quarter worth $39,228,000. Finally, Martingale Asset Management L P lifted its position in Spire by 51.3% during the third quarter. Martingale Asset Management L P now owns 38,356 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $2,581,000 after purchasing an additional 13,004 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 87.36% of the company’s stock.

Spire Price Performance

SR stock opened at $71.72 on Wednesday. The company has a market capitalization of $4.14 billion, a PE ratio of 16.64, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.21 and a beta of 0.57. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $66.70 and its 200-day moving average price is $64.40. Spire Inc. has a one year low of $56.36 and a one year high of $73.64. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.24, a quick ratio of 0.30 and a current ratio of 0.45.

Spire Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, January 3rd. Investors of record on Wednesday, December 11th will be given a $3.14 dividend. This represents a $12.56 annualized dividend and a yield of 17.51%. 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 payout ratio is currently 70.07%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

SR has been the topic of several recent research reports. Stifel Nicolaus decreased their price objective on Spire from $70.00 to $69.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, November 22nd. Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on shares of Spire from $73.00 to $75.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 21st. LADENBURG THALM/SH SH lowered shares of Spire from a “neutral” rating to a “sell” rating and dropped their price target for the stock from $65.50 to $60.50 in a research report on Thursday, October 17th. Mizuho increased their price objective on shares of Spire from $62.00 to $65.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 19th. Finally, UBS Group lifted their target price on shares of Spire from $75.00 to $80.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 21st. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating and one has given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Spire presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $69.93.

Insider Transactions at Spire

In other news, Director Paul D. Koonce purchased 1,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 2nd. The stock was purchased at an average price of $73.61 per share, for a total transaction of $73,610.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director now owns 2,425 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $178,504.25. This trade represents a 70.18 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Company insiders own 2.86% of the company’s stock.

Spire 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.