Capstone Investment Advisors LLC Invests $258,000 in Spire Inc. (NYSE:SR)

Capstone Investment Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Spire Inc. (NYSE:SR - Free Report) in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm purchased 3,802 shares of the utilities provider's stock, valued at approximately $258,000.

A number of other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of SR. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. purchased a new stake in shares of Spire in the fourth quarter worth $1,030,000. KBC Group NV grew its position in Spire by 48.2% during the 4th quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 2,307 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $156,000 after purchasing an additional 750 shares during the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp increased its stake in Spire by 15.8% during the 4th quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 778,442 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $52,802,000 after purchasing an additional 106,386 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its holdings in Spire by 3.6% in the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 834,647 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $56,614,000 after buying an additional 28,715 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Principal Financial Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Spire by 1.9% in the fourth quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 173,374 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $11,760,000 after buying an additional 3,163 shares in the last quarter. 87.36% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Spire Price Performance

Shares of Spire stock opened at $76.75 on Wednesday. The stock's fifty day moving average is $76.57 and its 200 day moving average is $71.71. Spire Inc. has a one year low of $57.77 and a one year high of $80.59. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.21, a quick ratio of 0.37 and a current ratio of 0.50. The stock has a market cap of $4.53 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.58, a P/E/G ratio of 2.82 and a beta of 0.65.

Spire (NYSE:SR - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 30th. The utilities provider reported $3.60 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates 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 net margin of 9.70% and a return on equity of 7.88%. The firm's quarterly revenue was down 6.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $3.45 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Spire Inc. will post 4.5 earnings per share for the current year.

Spire Dividend Announcement

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 paid a dividend of $0.785 per share. This represents a $3.14 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.09%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, June 11th. Spire's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 77.34%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

SR has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. 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 report on Thursday, March 20th. LADENBURG THALM/SH SH raised Spire to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Monday, March 17th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised Spire from a "neutral" rating to an "overweight" rating and increased their price objective for the company from $72.00 to $85.00 in a research report on Thursday, March 20th. StockNews.com cut shares of Spire from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price target on shares of Spire from $75.00 to $82.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating, three have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus 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.

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