Leeward Investments LLC MA Cuts Stake in Spire Inc. (NYSE:SR)

Leeward Investments LLC MA reduced its holdings in Spire Inc. (NYSE:SR - Free Report) by 4.2% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 109,926 shares of the utilities provider's stock after selling 4,786 shares during the quarter. Leeward Investments LLC MA owned about 0.19% of Spire worth $8,602,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the business. Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. acquired a new position in Spire during the first quarter worth about $69,889,000. Norges Bank acquired a new position in Spire during the fourth quarter worth about $42,432,000. Zimmer Partners LP acquired a new position in Spire during the fourth quarter worth about $30,083,000. Wellington Management Group LLP grew its position 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 period. Finally, Sourcerock Group LLC acquired a new position in Spire during the fourth quarter worth about $12,567,000. 87.36% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research analysts have weighed in on SR shares. Mizuho upped their target price on shares of Spire from $76.00 to $82.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 19th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on shares of Spire from $75.00 to $82.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. LADENBURG THALM/SH SH raised shares of Spire to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Friday, May 9th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price objective on shares of Spire from $85.00 to $83.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock 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 analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating, three have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $77.40.

Spire Trading Up 0.9%

NYSE:SR traded up $0.65 on Friday, reaching $74.06. The stock had a trading volume of 225,396 shares, compared to its average volume of 406,407. The company has a market cap of $4.37 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.39, a P/E/G ratio of 2.52 and a beta of 0.62. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.03, a current ratio of 0.43 and a quick ratio of 0.34. The firm's fifty day moving average is $74.16 and its two-hundred day moving average is $73.37. Spire Inc. has a 12-month low of $58.64 and a 12-month high of $79.81.

Spire (NYSE:SR - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, April 30th. The utilities provider reported $3.60 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $3.70 by ($0.10). The firm had revenue of $1.05 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $1.15 billion. Spire had a net margin of 10.22% and a return on equity of 8.49%. Spire's revenue for the quarter was down 6.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $3.45 earnings per share. Equities analysts expect that Spire Inc. will post 4.5 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Spire Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, July 2nd. Shareholders of record on Friday, April 11th were issued a $0.785 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, June 11th. This represents a $3.14 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.24%. Spire's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 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.