Brandywine Global Investment Management LLC Has $14.77 Million Stock Holdings in Spire Inc. $SR

Key Points

• Brandywine Global Investment Management LLC reduced its stake in Spire Inc. by 3.7%, selling 7,310 shares and now owning approximately 0.32% of the company’s stock valued at $14.76 million.
• Several institutional investors increased their positions in Spire, with Wellington Management Group LLP growing its stake by 29.0% and now owning over 1 million shares valued at approximately $69.38 million.
• Spire announced a quarterly dividend of $0.785, with a yield of 4.1%, set to be paid on October 2nd to stockholders of record on September 11th.

Brandywine Global Investment Management LLC lowered its position in shares of Spire Inc. (NYSE:SR - Free Report) by 3.7% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 188,689 shares of the utilities provider's stock after selling 7,310 shares during the quarter. Brandywine Global Investment Management LLC owned approximately 0.32% of Spire worth $14,765,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Cornerstone Wealth Management LLC increased its holdings in Spire by 1.7% in the first quarter. Cornerstone Wealth Management LLC now owns 7,870 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $616,000 after purchasing an additional 133 shares during the last quarter. UMB Bank n.a. increased its holdings in Spire by 3.2% in the first quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 4,915 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $385,000 after purchasing an additional 151 shares during the last quarter. Signaturefd LLC increased its holdings in Spire by 21.7% in the first quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 914 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $72,000 after purchasing an additional 163 shares during the last quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp increased its holdings in Spire by 5.5% in the first quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp now owns 3,672 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $287,000 after purchasing an additional 193 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Gamco Investors INC. ET AL increased its holdings in Spire by 2.3% in the fourth 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 during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 87.36% of the company's stock.

Spire Stock Up 0.5%

Shares of SR stock traded up $0.40 on Wednesday, hitting $76.03. 139,387 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 456,400. The company has a current ratio of 0.37, a quick ratio of 0.27 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.08. The firm has a market capitalization of $4.49 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.42, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.45 and a beta of 0.66. The business has a 50-day moving average of $74.68 and a 200 day moving average of $75.09. Spire Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $61.56 and a fifty-two week high of $79.81.

Spire (NYSE:SR - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, August 5th. The utilities provider reported $0.01 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate 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 return on equity of 8.66% and a net margin of 11.56%.Spire's revenue for the quarter was up 1.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned ($0.14) earnings per share. Spire has set its FY 2025 guidance at 4.400-4.60 EPS. Equities analysts anticipate that Spire Inc. will post 4.5 EPS for the current year.

Spire Dividend Announcement

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

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts recently commented on the company. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on Spire from $75.00 to $82.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a report on Thursday, May 1st. LADENBURG THALM/SH SH raised Spire to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Friday, May 9th. Stifel Nicolaus set a $81.00 target price on Spire and gave the company a "hold" rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 15th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their target price on Spire from $85.00 to $83.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, May 28th. Finally, Morgan Stanley reissued an "underperform" rating on shares of Spire in a research note on Wednesday, June 18th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, three have given a Buy rating, four have assigned a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $79.20.

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.