Captrust Financial Advisors Boosts Stock Holdings in Spire Inc. (NYSE:SR)

Captrust Financial Advisors raised its holdings in Spire Inc. (NYSE:SR - Free Report) by 24.0% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 722,782 shares of the utilities provider's stock after buying an additional 139,815 shares during the period. Captrust Financial Advisors owned about 1.24% of Spire worth $49,026,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

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

Spire Price Performance

NYSE SR traded down $0.41 on Friday, reaching $74.61. 336,715 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 389,927. The stock 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. 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 12 month low of $57.77 and a 12 month high of $79.81. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $76.45 and a 200 day simple moving average of $71.90.

Spire (NYSE:SR - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, April 30th. The utilities provider reported $3.60 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $3.70 by ($0.10). Spire had a net margin of 9.70% and a return on equity of 7.88%. The business had revenue of $1.05 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.15 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $3.45 EPS. Spire's revenue for the quarter was down 6.8% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts predict that Spire Inc. will post 4.5 earnings per share for the current year.

Spire Announces Dividend

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

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts recently commented on the stock. 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 report on Thursday, May 1st. LADENBURG THALM/SH SH raised Spire to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Monday, March 17th. StockNews.com raised shares of Spire from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Friday. Morgan Stanley boosted their price target on shares of Spire from $75.00 to $78.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Thursday, March 20th. Finally, Guggenheim raised their price objective 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 given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock 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.