GAMMA Investing LLC Acquires 56,450 Shares of Spire Inc. (NYSE:SR)

GAMMA Investing LLC grew its holdings in shares of Spire Inc. (NYSE:SR - Free Report) by 12,888.1% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 56,888 shares of the utilities provider's stock after acquiring an additional 56,450 shares during the period. GAMMA Investing LLC owned about 0.10% of Spire worth $4,451,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of SR. Golden State Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Spire during the fourth quarter worth $27,000. Van ECK Associates Corp boosted its stake in Spire by 4.3% during the 4th quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 16,292 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $1,105,000 after purchasing an additional 675 shares in the last quarter. C2P Capital Advisory Group LLC d.b.a. Prosperity Capital Advisors acquired a new position in Spire during the fourth quarter worth about $204,000. Rhumbline Advisers raised its holdings in shares of Spire by 0.7% in the 4th quarter. Rhumbline Advisers now owns 207,601 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $14,082,000 after purchasing an additional 1,441 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Congress Asset Management Co. increased its holdings in shares of Spire by 6.2% in the fourth quarter. Congress Asset Management Co. now owns 64,097 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $4,348,000 after buying an additional 3,758 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 87.36% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

SR has been the subject of several research analyst reports. 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 report on Thursday, May 1st. Guggenheim raised their price objective on Spire from $67.00 to $72.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 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 report on Wednesday, March 19th. Wall Street Zen raised Spire from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Friday, May 9th. Finally, Morgan Stanley lifted their target price on Spire from $75.00 to $78.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Thursday, March 20th. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, three have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $77.20.

Spire Price Performance

Spire stock traded down $0.03 on Thursday, reaching $73.20. The company's stock had a trading volume of 608,928 shares, compared to its average volume of 403,504. The business's fifty day moving average price is $75.07 and its 200 day moving average price is $73.13. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.21, a quick ratio of 0.37 and a current ratio of 0.50. Spire Inc. has a twelve month low of $57.77 and a twelve month high of $79.81. The company has a market cap of $4.32 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.72, a PEG ratio of 2.82 and a beta of 0.63.

Spire (NYSE:SR - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 30th. The utilities provider reported $3.60 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $3.70 by ($0.10). The company had revenue of $1.05 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.15 billion. Spire had a return on equity of 7.88% and a net margin of 9.70%. The business's revenue for the quarter was down 6.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $3.45 EPS. Equities analysts expect that Spire Inc. will post 4.5 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Spire Announces Dividend

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 $0.785 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, June 11th. This represents a $3.14 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.29%. Spire's dividend payout ratio is currently 77.34%.

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.