Exchange Traded Concepts LLC Boosts Stake in Spire Inc. (NYSE:SR)

Exchange Traded Concepts LLC boosted its holdings in Spire Inc. (NYSE:SR - Free Report) by 21.6% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 147,953 shares of the utilities provider's stock after buying an additional 26,248 shares during the quarter. Exchange Traded Concepts LLC owned approximately 0.25% of Spire worth $11,577,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in SR. Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. acquired a new position in Spire in the first quarter valued at approximately $69,889,000. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of Spire during the fourth quarter valued at about $42,432,000. Zimmer Partners LP bought a new stake in shares of Spire during the fourth quarter worth about $30,083,000. Wellington Management Group LLP raised its holdings in shares of Spire by 29.0% in the 4th quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 1,022,870 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $69,381,000 after acquiring an additional 229,662 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Sourcerock Group LLC bought a new position in Spire in the 4th quarter valued at about $12,567,000. 87.36% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Spire Stock Performance

NYSE:SR traded up $0.08 during trading hours on Tuesday, reaching $72.12. The stock had a trading volume of 369,016 shares, compared to its average volume of 402,947. Spire Inc. has a 12-month low of $58.19 and a 12-month high of $79.81. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $74.99 and a 200 day simple moving average of $73.12. The stock has a market cap of $4.26 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.91, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.45 and a beta of 0.63. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.03, a quick ratio of 0.34 and a current ratio of 0.43.

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). The company had revenue of $1.05 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $1.15 billion. Spire had a return on equity of 8.49% and a net margin of 10.22%. The company's revenue was down 6.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $3.45 EPS. On average, research analysts forecast that Spire Inc. will post 4.5 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Spire Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, July 2nd. Stockholders of record on Friday, April 11th will be given a dividend of $0.785 per share. This represents a $3.14 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.35%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, June 11th. Spire's dividend payout ratio is presently 77.34%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

SR has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Morgan Stanley boosted their price objective on Spire from $75.00 to $78.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a report on Thursday, March 20th. LADENBURG THALM/SH SH raised Spire to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Friday, May 9th. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Spire from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Friday, May 9th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price target on Spire from $75.00 to $82.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Finally, Mizuho boosted their price objective on Spire from $76.00 to $82.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 19th. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, three have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Spire currently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $77.20.

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.