Nomura Holdings Inc. Invests $519,000 in Spire Inc. (NYSE:SR)

Nomura Holdings Inc. bought a new stake in Spire Inc. (NYSE:SR - Free Report) in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm bought 7,649 shares of the utilities provider's stock, valued at approximately $519,000.

A number of other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Golden State Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in Spire in the fourth quarter valued at $27,000. Lee Danner & Bass Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Spire during the 4th quarter worth about $32,000. R Squared Ltd acquired a new stake in shares of Spire during the 4th quarter worth about $37,000. Capital Advisors Ltd. LLC increased its position in Spire by 431.4% during the fourth quarter. Capital Advisors Ltd. LLC now owns 627 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $43,000 after acquiring an additional 509 shares during the period. Finally, Physician Wealth Advisors Inc. bought a new position in Spire during the fourth quarter worth about $68,000. Institutional investors own 87.36% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts recently commented on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on shares of Spire from $75.00 to $82.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised shares of Spire from a "neutral" rating to an "overweight" rating and lifted their price target for the company from $72.00 to $85.00 in a report on Thursday, March 20th. LADENBURG THALM/SH SH upgraded shares of Spire to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Friday, May 9th. Morgan Stanley lifted their target price on shares of Spire from $75.00 to $78.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Thursday, March 20th. Finally, Guggenheim lifted their target price on shares of Spire from $67.00 to $72.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 1st. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, three have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $77.40.

Spire Stock Up 1.1%

SR stock traded up $0.84 during midday trading on Tuesday, reaching $75.46. 467,154 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 395,184. The company has a market cap of $4.45 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.27, a P/E/G ratio of 2.82 and a beta of 0.65. The firm's fifty day moving average price is $75.83 and its 200-day moving average price is $72.69. The company has a quick ratio of 0.37, a current ratio of 0.50 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.21. Spire Inc. has a 52 week low of $57.77 and a 52 week high of $79.81.

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 firm 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 was down 6.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $3.45 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Spire Inc. will post 4.5 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Spire Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, July 2nd. Shareholders of record on Friday, April 11th will be given a dividend of $0.785 per share. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, June 11th. This represents a $3.14 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.16%. Spire's dividend payout ratio is presently 77.34%.

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.