Boston Partners Sells 6,179 Shares of Spire Inc. $SR

Key Points

• Boston Partners reduced its holdings in Spire Inc. by 19.6%, owning 25,334 shares valued at approximately $1.98 million after selling 6,179 shares in the first quarter.
• The company recently reported earnings per share of $0.01, exceeding the consensus estimate of ($0.09), along with a 1.9% increase in revenue year-over-year to $421.90 million.
• Spire announced a quarterly dividend of $0.785 per share, resulting in an annualized dividend yield of 4.1%, with a payout ratio of 67.82%.

Boston Partners cut its holdings in Spire Inc. (NYSE:SR - Free Report) by 19.6% during the first quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 25,334 shares of the utilities provider's stock after selling 6,179 shares during the period. Boston Partners' holdings in Spire were worth $1,982,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Wellington Management Group LLP increased its holdings in 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 buying an additional 229,662 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its holdings in Spire by 1.6% during the fourth quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,002,938 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $68,028,000 after buying an additional 15,835 shares during the last quarter. Nuveen LLC acquired a new position in Spire during the first quarter worth $73,254,000. Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. acquired a new position in Spire during the first quarter worth $69,889,000. Finally, Northern Trust Corp increased its holdings in Spire by 13.0% during the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 845,612 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $57,358,000 after buying an additional 97,573 shares during the last quarter. 87.36% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages recently weighed in on SR. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price 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. Morgan Stanley restated an "underperform" rating on shares of Spire in a report on Wednesday, June 18th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price objective on shares of Spire from $85.00 to $83.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, May 28th. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Spire from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Friday, May 9th. Finally, Bank of America reaffirmed an "underperform" rating and set a $76.00 price objective (down from $81.00) on shares of Spire in a research report on Friday, August 15th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, three have assigned a Buy rating, four have given a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $79.20.

Spire Stock Performance

Shares of Spire stock traded up $1.2490 during trading on Friday, reaching $77.2490. The company's stock had a trading volume of 124,632 shares, compared to its average volume of 453,853. The business's 50-day moving average price is $74.79 and its 200-day moving average price is $75.13. The firm has a market cap of $4.56 billion, a PE ratio of 16.67, a P/E/G ratio of 2.48 and a beta of 0.66. Spire Inc. has a 52 week low of $61.56 and a 52 week high of $79.81. The company has a quick ratio of 0.27, a current ratio of 0.37 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.08.

Spire (NYSE:SR - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, August 5th. The utilities provider reported $0.01 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of ($0.09) by $0.10. The company had revenue of $421.90 million during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $417.27 million. Spire had a net margin of 11.56% and a return on equity of 8.66%. Spire's quarterly revenue was up 1.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted ($0.14) earnings per share. Spire has set its FY 2025 guidance at 4.400-4.60 EPS. Equities analysts forecast that Spire Inc. will post 4.5 earnings per share for the current year.

Spire Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, October 2nd. Stockholders of record on Thursday, September 11th will be given a $0.785 dividend. This represents a $3.14 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.1%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, September 11th. Spire's payout ratio is presently 67.82%.

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.