Dimensional Fund Advisors LP Purchases 15,835 Shares of Spire Inc. (NYSE:SR)

Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its holdings in Spire Inc. (NYSE:SR - Free Report) by 1.6% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 1,002,938 shares of the utilities provider's stock after purchasing an additional 15,835 shares during the quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP owned 1.72% of Spire worth $68,028,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. CANADA LIFE ASSURANCE Co grew its position in Spire by 1.3% in the fourth quarter. CANADA LIFE ASSURANCE Co now owns 76,897 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $5,214,000 after acquiring an additional 960 shares during the last quarter. Gamco Investors INC. ET AL boosted its stake 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 valued at $614,000 after purchasing an additional 200 shares in the last quarter. Jump Financial LLC bought a new stake in shares of Spire during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $1,434,000. Ontario Teachers Pension Plan Board increased its position in Spire by 13.0% during the 4th quarter. Ontario Teachers Pension Plan Board now owns 67,768 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $4,597,000 after purchasing an additional 7,822 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Walleye Capital LLC bought a new position in Spire in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $281,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 87.36% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Morgan Stanley upped their price target 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. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price target on Spire from $75.00 to $82.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised Spire from a "neutral" rating to an "overweight" rating and upped their price objective for the company from $72.00 to $85.00 in a research note on Thursday, March 20th. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Spire from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. Finally, Mizuho upped their price target on shares of Spire from $76.00 to $82.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 19th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating, three have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Spire has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $77.40.

Spire Trading Down 0.1 %

Shares of NYSE:SR traded down $0.09 during trading on Tuesday, reaching $75.95. The stock had a trading volume of 33,274 shares, compared to its average volume of 389,284. Spire Inc. has a 52 week low of $57.77 and a 52 week high of $79.81. The firm's fifty day moving average is $76.55 and its 200 day moving average is $71.68. The stock has a market cap of $4.48 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.41, 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 quick ratio of 0.37 and a current ratio of 0.50.

Spire (NYSE:SR - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results 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 business had revenue of $1.05 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.15 billion. Spire had a return on equity of 7.88% and a net margin of 9.70%. The business's revenue was down 6.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $3.45 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Spire Inc. will post 4.5 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Spire Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, July 2nd. Shareholders of record on Friday, April 11th will be paid a $0.785 dividend. This represents a $3.14 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.13%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, June 11th. Spire's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 77.34%.

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.