Baird Financial Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of Spire Inc. (NYSE:SR - Free Report) by 4.0% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 118,120 shares of the utilities provider's stock after acquiring an additional 4,562 shares during the period. Baird Financial Group Inc. owned 0.20% of Spire worth $8,012,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.
Other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Golden State Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in Spire during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $27,000. GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its position in 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 purchasing an additional 204 shares during the last quarter. Lee Danner & Bass Inc. bought a new stake in Spire during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $32,000. R Squared Ltd bought a new stake in Spire during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $37,000. Finally, Capital Advisors Ltd. LLC lifted its position in Spire by 431.4% during the fourth quarter. Capital Advisors Ltd. LLC now owns 627 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $43,000 after purchasing an additional 509 shares during the last quarter. 87.36% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.
Wall Street Analyst Weigh In
SR has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. 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 report on Thursday, March 20th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Spire from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Friday. Mizuho upped their price target on shares of Spire from $76.00 to $82.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Wednesday, March 19th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on shares of Spire from $75.00 to $82.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Finally, LADENBURG THALM/SH SH upgraded shares of Spire to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Monday, March 17th. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, three have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $77.40.
Check Out Our Latest Stock Report on SR
Spire Stock Performance
Shares of NYSE:SR traded down $2.47 during trading on Monday, hitting $72.19. The company's stock had a trading volume of 334,433 shares, compared to its average volume of 389,705. The company has a 50-day moving average of $76.45 and a 200-day moving average of $71.94. Spire Inc. has a 12 month low of $57.77 and a 12 month high of $79.81. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.21, a current ratio of 0.50 and a quick ratio of 0.37. The firm has a market cap of $4.26 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.48, a P/E/G ratio of 2.82 and a beta of 0.65.
Spire (NYSE:SR - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 30th. The utilities provider reported $3.60 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $3.70 by ($0.10). Spire had a return on equity of 7.88% and a net margin of 9.70%. The business had revenue of $1.05 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.15 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $3.45 EPS. Spire's revenue for the quarter was down 6.8% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Spire Inc. will post 4.5 earnings per share for the current year.
Spire Announces Dividend
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 given a dividend of $0.785 per share. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, June 11th. This represents a $3.14 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.35%. Spire's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 77.34%.
About Spire
(
Free Report)
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.
Recommended Stories
Before you consider Spire, you'll want to hear this.
MarketBeat keeps track of Wall Street's top-rated and best performing research analysts and the stocks they recommend to their clients on a daily basis. MarketBeat has identified the five stocks that top analysts are quietly whispering to their clients to buy now before the broader market catches on... and Spire wasn't on the list.
While Spire currently has a Moderate Buy rating among analysts, top-rated analysts believe these five stocks are better buys.
View The Five Stocks Here
MarketBeat just released its list of 10 cheap stocks that have been overlooked by the market and may be seriously undervalued. Enter your email address and below to see which companies made the list.
Get This Free Report
Like this article? Share it with a colleague.
Link copied to clipboard.
