BNP Paribas Financial Markets Cuts Stake in Spire Inc. (NYSE:SR)

BNP Paribas Financial Markets decreased its stake in Spire Inc. (NYSE:SR - Free Report) by 29.3% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 11,329 shares of the utilities provider's stock after selling 4,705 shares during the quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets' holdings in Spire were worth $768,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in SR. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Spire by 0.8% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 6,168,221 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $418,390,000 after purchasing an additional 46,434 shares during the period. Wellington Management Group LLP lifted its position in shares of Spire by 29.0% during the fourth quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 1,022,870 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $69,381,000 after purchasing an additional 229,662 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its holdings in Spire by 1.6% in the fourth quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,002,938 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $68,028,000 after buying an additional 15,835 shares during the period. Northern Trust Corp raised its holdings in Spire by 13.0% in the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 845,612 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $57,358,000 after purchasing an additional 97,573 shares during the period. Finally, 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 purchasing an additional 28,715 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 87.36% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

SR has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. LADENBURG THALM/SH SH raised shares of Spire to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Friday, May 9th. Guggenheim upped their price target on shares of Spire from $67.00 to $72.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 1st. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on shares of Spire from $75.00 to $82.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. 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 note on Wednesday, March 19th. Finally, Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Spire from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Friday, May 9th. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, three have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $77.40.

Spire Stock Down 0.7%

SR traded down $0.56 during midday trading on Wednesday, reaching $74.85. 12,226 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 393,680. 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 company's fifty day moving average price is $75.83 and its 200 day moving average price is $72.69. The company has a market cap of $4.42 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.12, a price-to-earnings-growth 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.

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). Spire had a return on equity of 7.88% and a net margin of 9.70%. The company had revenue of $1.05 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $1.15 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $3.45 EPS. The company's revenue was down 6.8% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts expect that Spire Inc. will post 4.5 EPS for the current year.

Spire Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, July 2nd. Investors of record on Friday, April 11th will be given a $0.785 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, June 11th. This represents a $3.14 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.20%. Spire's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 77.34%.

Spire Company 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.