AQR Capital Management LLC Cuts Stake in Spire Inc. (NYSE:SR)

AQR Capital Management LLC decreased its holdings in Spire Inc. (NYSE:SR - Free Report) by 3.1% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 163,837 shares of the utilities provider's stock after selling 5,308 shares during the quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC owned 0.28% of Spire worth $11,087,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the business. Barclays PLC lifted its stake in Spire by 127.8% in the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 109,372 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $7,360,000 after acquiring an additional 61,357 shares during the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted its stake in Spire by 18.1% in the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 289,730 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $19,496,000 after acquiring an additional 44,506 shares during the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its stake in Spire by 87.2% in the fourth quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 438 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $30,000 after acquiring an additional 204 shares during the last quarter. CWA Asset Management Group LLC lifted its stake in Spire by 14.8% in the fourth quarter. CWA Asset Management Group LLC now owns 6,509 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $441,000 after acquiring an additional 841 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. lifted its stake in Spire by 4.6% in the fourth quarter. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. now owns 24,915 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $1,690,000 after acquiring an additional 1,097 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 87.36% of the company's stock.

Spire Stock Performance

Shares of Spire stock traded down $0.41 during trading on Friday, reaching $74.61. The company's stock had a trading volume of 336,715 shares, compared to its average volume of 389,927. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $76.45 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $71.94. The firm has a market cap of $4.40 billion, a PE ratio of 18.07, a P/E/G ratio of 2.82 and a beta of 0.65. Spire Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $57.77 and a fifty-two week high of $79.81. The company has a current ratio of 0.50, a quick ratio of 0.37 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.21.

Spire (NYSE:SR - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, April 30th. The utilities provider reported $3.60 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $3.70 by ($0.10). The business had revenue of $1.05 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.15 billion. Spire had a net margin of 9.70% and a return on equity of 7.88%. The business's revenue was down 6.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $3.45 earnings per share. On average, analysts forecast that Spire Inc. will post 4.5 EPS for the current year.

Spire Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, July 2nd. Stockholders of record on Friday, April 11th will be issued a $0.785 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, June 11th. This represents a $3.14 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.21%. Spire's payout ratio is 77.34%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts have recently weighed in on SR shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upgraded shares of Spire from a "neutral" rating to an "overweight" rating and boosted their price objective for the stock from $72.00 to $85.00 in a research report on Thursday, March 20th. LADENBURG THALM/SH SH upgraded shares of Spire to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Monday, March 17th. Mizuho boosted their price objective on shares of Spire from $76.00 to $82.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 19th. Morgan Stanley boosted their price objective on shares of Spire from $75.00 to $78.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Thursday, March 20th. Finally, Guggenheim boosted their price objective on shares of Spire from $67.00 to $72.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 1st. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, three have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Spire presently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $77.40.

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.