American Century Companies Inc. Cuts Holdings in Spire Inc. (NYSE:SR)

American Century Companies Inc. reduced its stake in Spire Inc. (NYSE:SR) by 18.5% in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 4,105,943 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 930,042 shares during the period. American Century Companies Inc. owned approximately 0.07% of Spire worth $249,354,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Manning & Napier Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in Spire in the 2nd quarter valued at $2,233,000. Clearbridge Investments LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Spire during the first quarter valued at about $2,401,000. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. grew its stake in shares of 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 acquiring an additional 107,662 shares in the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP grew its stake in shares of Spire by 19.7% during the fourth quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 374,776 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $23,364,000 after acquiring an additional 61,564 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of Spire by 1.2% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 5,626,863 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $345,321,000 after acquiring an additional 65,486 shares in the last quarter. 87.36% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts have recently weighed in on SR shares. Morgan Stanley lowered their target price on Spire from $67.00 to $64.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, June 24th. Stifel Nicolaus raised their target price on Spire from $64.00 to $70.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 1st. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and one has assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $62.50.

Spire Stock Performance

Shares of SR stock opened at $64.77 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.11, a quick ratio of 0.35 and a current ratio of 0.48. Spire Inc. has a one year low of $53.77 and a one year high of $68.02. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $64.67 and its 200-day simple moving average is $61.82. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.74 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.36, a PEG ratio of 3.10 and a beta of 0.52.

Spire (NYSE:SR) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, July 31st. The utilities provider reported ($0.14) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.18) by $0.04. Spire had a net margin of 9.40% and a return on equity of 8.10%. The firm had revenue of $414.10 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $313.86 million. During the same quarter last year, the company posted ($0.42) earnings per share. Spire’s revenue was down 1.1% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts anticipate that Spire Inc. will post 4.23 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Spire Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, October 2nd. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, September 11th will be issued a $0.755 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, September 11th. This represents a $3.02 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.66%. Spire’s dividend payout ratio is currently 76.26%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Spire news, VP Gerard J. Gorla sold 500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, August 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $64.82, for a total value of $32,410.00. Following the transaction, the vice president now owns 7,311 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $473,899.02. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In other news, Director Maria V. Fogarty sold 6,590 shares of Spire stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $65.15, for a total transaction of $429,338.50. Following the sale, the director now owns 9,800 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $638,470. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, VP Gerard J. Gorla sold 500 shares of Spire stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, August 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $64.82, for a total value of $32,410.00. Following the sale, the vice president now directly owns 7,311 shares in the company, valued at approximately $473,899.02. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 2.86% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.