Jupiter Asset Management Ltd. Has $31.30 Million Stake in Spire Inc. $SR

Key Points

• Jupiter Asset Management boosted its stake in Spire by 22.5% in the fourth quarter, ending with 378,517 shares valued at about $31.3 million.
• Several analysts remain positive on Spire, with the stock carrying a Moderate Buy consensus and an average price target of $96.22; UBS also recently lowered its target to $103 while keeping a buy rating.
• Spire reported quarterly EPS of $3.76, beating expectations, and announced a quarterly dividend of $0.825 per share, implying an annualized yield of about 3.9%.

Jupiter Asset Management Ltd. grew its holdings in Spire Inc. (NYSE:SR - Free Report) by 22.5% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 378,517 shares of the utilities provider's stock after purchasing an additional 69,475 shares during the period. Jupiter Asset Management Ltd. owned approximately 0.64% of Spire worth $31,303,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the business. Community Bank N.A. acquired a new position in shares of Spire in the 3rd quarter valued at about $25,000. Sound Income Strategies LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Spire during the fourth quarter worth approximately $25,000. Optima Capital LLC purchased a new position in Spire during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $25,000. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC increased its stake in Spire by 186.8% in the 3rd quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 370 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $30,000 after buying an additional 241 shares during the period. Finally, Headlands Technologies LLC acquired a new position in Spire in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $38,000. 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 research reports. Wells Fargo & Company began coverage on shares of Spire in a research note on Monday, May 11th. They set an "overweight" rating and a $96.00 target price for the company. Wolfe Research initiated coverage on Spire in a report on Tuesday. They set a "peer perform" rating for the company. TD Cowen initiated coverage on Spire in a research note on Thursday, April 16th. They set a "hold" rating and a $101.00 price target for the company. Morgan Stanley set a $96.00 price target on Spire in a research note on Thursday, May 21st. Finally, UBS Group dropped their price objective on Spire from $106.00 to $103.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a report on Friday, May 8th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, five have issued a Buy rating and four have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $96.22.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Spire news, Director Paul D. Koonce purchased 2,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Friday, May 8th. The shares were purchased at an average price of $85.81 per share, for a total transaction of $171,620.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the director directly owned 7,000 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $600,670. This represents a 40.00% increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. 2.26% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Spire Trading Down 2.2%

Shares of SR stock opened at $83.75 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $4.95 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.72, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.92 and a beta of 0.56. Spire Inc. has a 1 year low of $71.24 and a 1 year high of $95.31. The firm's fifty day simple moving average is $89.65 and its 200 day simple moving average is $87.43. The company has a current ratio of 0.55, a quick ratio of 0.48 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.69.

Spire (NYSE:SR - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, May 6th. The utilities provider reported $3.76 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.72 by $0.04. Spire had a return on equity of 9.49% and a net margin of 13.97%.The firm had revenue of $1.02 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $1.07 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $3.60 EPS. The company's revenue for the quarter was up 4.5% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Spire Inc. will post 4 EPS for the current year.

Spire Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, July 2nd. Investors of record on Thursday, June 11th will be given a $0.825 dividend. This represents a $3.30 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.9%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, June 11th. Spire's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 58.00%.

Spire Company Profile

Spire Inc NYSE: SR, formerly known as The Laclede Group, is a regulated natural gas distribution company headquartered in St. Louis, Missouri. Through its three operating divisions—Spire Missouri, Spire Alabama and Spire Mississippi—the company delivers natural gas to more than 1.7 million residential, commercial and industrial customers. Spire's service territory spans key markets in the central and southern United States, including metropolitan St. Louis, central Alabama and central Mississippi.

Founded in 1857 as the Laclede Gas Light Company, the business has grown through strategic acquisitions, notably Alabama Gas Corporation in 2013 and Mississippi Gas in 2016.

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