Spire Inc. (NYSE:SR) Shares Purchased by Dimensional Fund Advisors LP

Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its position in shares of Spire Inc. (NYSE:SR - Free Report) by 1.6% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure 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 period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP owned approximately 1.72% of Spire worth $68,028,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in SR. Barclays PLC boosted its stake in Spire by 127.8% during the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 109,372 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $7,360,000 after acquiring an additional 61,357 shares in the last quarter. Oddo BHF Asset Management Sas bought a new position in shares of Spire in the third quarter worth about $994,000. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised its stake in Spire by 18.1% during the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 289,730 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $19,496,000 after acquiring an additional 44,506 shares during the period. GAMMA Investing LLC increased its stake in shares of Spire by 87.2% in 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 in the last quarter. Finally, CWA Asset Management Group LLC increased its stake in Spire by 14.8% in the 4th quarter. CWA Asset Management Group LLC now owns 6,509 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $441,000 after buying an additional 841 shares in the last quarter. 87.36% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Spire Stock Performance

NYSE:SR traded down $0.29 during trading hours on Monday, hitting $76.20. 115,396 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 389,839. Spire Inc. has a 52-week low of $57.77 and a 52-week high of $79.81. The company's 50 day moving average price is $76.56 and its 200-day moving average price is $71.60. 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 stock has a market capitalization of $4.45 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.44, a PEG ratio of 2.82 and a beta of 0.56.

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

Spire Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, July 2nd. Shareholders of record on Friday, April 11th will be paid a dividend of $0.785 per share. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, June 11th. This represents a $3.14 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.12%. Spire's payout ratio is currently 76.03%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts have weighed in on SR shares. LADENBURG THALM/SH SH upgraded Spire to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Monday, March 17th. Mizuho raised their price target on Spire from $76.00 to $82.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Wednesday, March 19th. Morgan Stanley increased their price objective 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. Guggenheim upped their price objective on Spire from $67.00 to $72.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 1st. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. upgraded Spire from a "neutral" rating to an "overweight" rating and raised their price target for the stock from $72.00 to $85.00 in a research report on Thursday, March 20th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating, three have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Spire has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $77.40.

Spire Profile

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.