936,158 Shares in Spire Inc. $SR Purchased by Nuveen LLC

Key Points

• Nuveen LLC has acquired 936,158 shares of Spire Inc., representing a stake valued at approximately $73.25 million or 1.59% of the company.
• Spire recently reported earnings of $0.01 per share, beating analyst expectations, with total revenue reaching $421.90 million for the quarter.
• The company has announced a quarterly dividend of $0.785 per share, leading to a dividend yield of 4.0% and a payout ratio of 67.82%.

Nuveen LLC bought a new stake in shares of Spire Inc. (NYSE:SR - Free Report) during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund bought 936,158 shares of the utilities provider's stock, valued at approximately $73,254,000. Nuveen LLC owned approximately 1.59% of Spire at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of SR. Cornerstone Wealth Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Spire by 1.7% in the first quarter. Cornerstone Wealth Management LLC now owns 7,870 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $616,000 after acquiring an additional 133 shares during the last quarter. UMB Bank n.a. grew its position in Spire by 3.2% during the 1st quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 4,915 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $385,000 after purchasing an additional 151 shares during the last quarter. Signaturefd LLC increased its stake in Spire by 21.7% during the 1st quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 914 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $72,000 after purchasing an additional 163 shares in the last quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp increased its stake in Spire by 5.5% during the 1st quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp now owns 3,672 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $287,000 after purchasing an additional 193 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Gamco Investors INC. ET AL raised its holdings in Spire by 2.3% in the fourth quarter. Gamco Investors INC. ET AL now owns 9,050 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $614,000 after buying an additional 200 shares during the last quarter. 87.36% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages recently weighed in on SR. Stifel Nicolaus set a $81.00 price target on shares of Spire and gave the company a "hold" rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 15th. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Spire from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Friday, May 9th. LADENBURG THALM/SH SH raised shares of Spire to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Friday, May 9th. Morgan Stanley reaffirmed an "underperform" rating on shares of Spire in a research report on Wednesday, June 18th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price target on Spire from $85.00 to $83.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, May 28th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating, three have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Spire currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $79.20.

Spire Stock Performance

Shares of Spire stock traded down $0.49 on Monday, hitting $75.31. 130,904 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 456,259. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.08, a quick ratio of 0.27 and a current ratio of 0.37. The stock has a market capitalization of $4.45 billion, a PE ratio of 16.27, a PEG ratio of 2.36 and a beta of 0.66. Spire Inc. has a 1 year low of $61.56 and a 1 year high of $79.81. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $74.63 and a 200-day simple moving average of $75.06.

Spire (NYSE:SR - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, August 5th. The utilities provider reported $0.01 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of ($0.09) by $0.10. The company had revenue of $421.90 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $417.27 million. Spire had a net margin of 11.56% and a return on equity of 8.66%. The firm's quarterly revenue was up 1.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted ($0.14) EPS. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Spire Inc. will post 4.5 EPS for the current year.

Spire Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, October 2nd. Shareholders of record on Thursday, September 11th will be paid a $0.785 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, September 11th. This represents a $3.14 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.2%. Spire's payout ratio is presently 67.82%.

Spire Company 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.