Bridgefront Capital LLC Invests $254,000 in Spire Inc. (NYSE:SR)

Bridgefront Capital LLC purchased a new position in shares of Spire Inc. (NYSE:SR - Free Report) in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm purchased 3,745 shares of the utilities provider's stock, valued at approximately $254,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Blair William & Co. IL grew its stake in shares of Spire by 2.6% in the 4th quarter. Blair William & Co. IL now owns 6,027 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $409,000 after buying an additional 152 shares during the period. Gamco Investors INC. ET AL increased its holdings in shares of Spire by 2.3% during the fourth quarter. Gamco Investors INC. ET AL now owns 9,050 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $614,000 after acquiring an additional 200 shares in the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC raised its position in shares of Spire by 87.2% during the fourth quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 438 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $30,000 after purchasing an additional 204 shares during the period. Parkside Financial Bank & Trust lifted its holdings in shares of Spire by 11.7% in the 4th quarter. Parkside Financial Bank & Trust now owns 2,308 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $157,000 after purchasing an additional 241 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Chicago Partners Investment Group LLC grew its position in Spire by 8.6% in the 4th quarter. Chicago Partners Investment Group LLC now owns 3,406 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $230,000 after purchasing an additional 271 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 87.36% of the company's stock.

Spire Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE SR traded down $0.41 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $74.61. The company's stock had a trading volume of 336,715 shares, compared to its average volume of 389,927. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $76.45 and a 200 day moving average price of $71.90. The firm has a market capitalization of $4.40 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.07, a P/E/G ratio of 2.82 and a beta of 0.65. Spire Inc. has a one year low of $57.77 and a one year 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 posted its earnings results on Wednesday, April 30th. The utilities provider reported $3.60 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $3.70 by ($0.10). The company had revenue of $1.05 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $1.15 billion. Spire had a return on equity of 7.88% and a net margin of 9.70%. The company's revenue was down 6.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $3.45 EPS. On average, research analysts forecast that Spire Inc. will post 4.5 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Spire Announces Dividend

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

Analyst Ratings Changes

SR has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Morgan Stanley raised their price objective on shares of Spire from $75.00 to $78.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Thursday, March 20th. Mizuho increased their price objective on Spire from $76.00 to $82.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 19th. LADENBURG THALM/SH SH upgraded Spire to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Monday, March 17th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on Spire from $75.00 to $82.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Finally, Guggenheim boosted their price target on shares of Spire from $67.00 to $72.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a report on Tuesday, April 1st. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, three have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Spire presently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average price target 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.