Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. Invests $1.03 Million in Spire Inc. (NYSE:SR)

Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. bought a new stake in Spire Inc. (NYSE:SR) during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor bought 15,181 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $1,030,000.

Other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Meeder Asset Management Inc. bought a new position in Spire in the third quarter valued at $25,000. Golden State Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Spire during the fourth quarter valued at about $27,000. GAMMA Investing LLC grew its stake in shares of Spire by 87.2% during the fourth quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 438 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $30,000 after buying an additional 204 shares during the last quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC grew its stake in shares of Spire by 1,318.4% during the third quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC now owns 539 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $36,000 after buying an additional 501 shares during the last quarter. Finally, R Squared Ltd bought a new position in shares of Spire during the fourth quarter valued at about $37,000. Institutional investors own 87.36% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on SR. Mizuho raised their price objective on Spire from $76.00 to $82.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on Spire from $73.00 to $75.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 21st. Bank of America began coverage on Spire in a research note on Friday, December 13th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $70.00 price objective on the stock. LADENBURG THALM/SH SH upgraded shares of Spire to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Monday. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded shares of Spire from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, three have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $76.00.

Spire Stock Performance

Shares of SR opened at $77.37 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.21, a current ratio of 0.50 and a quick ratio of 0.37. Spire Inc. has a one year low of $57.27 and a one year high of $78.83. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $73.08 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $69.08. The firm has a market capitalization of $4.51 billion, a PE ratio of 18.73, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.82 and a beta of 0.53.

Spire (NYSE:SR) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 5th. The utilities provider reported $1.34 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.42 by ($0.08). Spire had a return on equity of 7.88% and a net margin of 9.70%. On average, analysts anticipate that Spire Inc. will post 4.5 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Spire Cuts Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 2nd. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, March 11th will be issued a $0.785 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, March 11th. This represents a $3.14 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.06%. Spire’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 76.03%.

About Spire

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.