Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC Makes New Investment in Spire Inc. $SR

Key Points

• Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC has acquired a new stake in Spire Inc. (NYSE: SR), purchasing 8,201 shares valued at approximately $599,000 in the second quarter.
• Analysts have mixed views on Spire, with a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a target price of $81.36, while some firms lowered their price targets in recent reports.
• Spire recently announced a quarterly dividend of $0.785, translating to an annualized yield of 3.7%, with a payout ratio of 67.82%.

Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC bought a new position in Spire Inc. (NYSE:SR - Free Report) in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund bought 8,201 shares of the utilities provider's stock, valued at approximately $599,000.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in SR. GAMMA Investing LLC grew its holdings in Spire by 66.0% during the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 727 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $57,000 after purchasing an additional 289 shares during the last quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC grew its holdings in Spire by 16.9% during the first quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC now owns 5,833 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $456,000 after purchasing an additional 844 shares during the last quarter. State of Alaska Department of Revenue grew its holdings in Spire by 3.7% during the first quarter. State of Alaska Department of Revenue now owns 6,833 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $534,000 after purchasing an additional 245 shares during the last quarter. Blue Trust Inc. grew its holdings in Spire by 20.5% during the first quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 1,305 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $102,000 after purchasing an additional 222 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Retirement Systems of Alabama grew its holdings in Spire by 1.1% during the first quarter. Retirement Systems of Alabama now owns 71,014 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $5,557,000 after purchasing an additional 794 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 87.36% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts have commented on the company. Bank of America reiterated an "underperform" rating and set a $76.00 price target (down previously from $81.00) on shares of Spire in a report on Friday, August 15th. Stifel Nicolaus set a $81.00 price target on Spire and gave the company a "hold" rating in a report on Tuesday, July 15th. Jefferies Financial Group upgraded shares of Spire to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 7th. Morgan Stanley lowered their price objective on shares of Spire from $81.00 to $76.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, September 25th. Finally, UBS Group raised their price objective on shares of Spire from $80.00 to $95.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Monday, October 13th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, four have given a Buy rating, five have issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $81.36.

Spire Trading Up 0.7%

Shares of Spire stock opened at $85.47 on Monday. The company has a market cap of $5.04 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.46, a PEG ratio of 2.48 and a beta of 0.69. Spire Inc. has a 1 year low of $61.87 and a 1 year high of $86.31. The company's fifty day simple moving average is $78.45 and its 200-day simple moving average is $76.07. The company has a current ratio of 0.37, a quick ratio of 0.27 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.08.

Spire (NYSE:SR - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, August 5th. The utilities provider reported $0.01 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of ($0.09) by $0.10. The firm had revenue of $421.90 million during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $417.27 million. Spire had a return on equity of 8.66% and a net margin of 11.56%.Spire's quarterly revenue was up 1.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business earned ($0.14) earnings per share. Spire has set its FY 2025 guidance at 4.400-4.60 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Spire Inc. will post 4.5 EPS for the current year.

Spire Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, October 2nd. Investors of record on Thursday, September 11th were given a $0.785 dividend. This represents a $3.14 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.7%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, September 11th. Spire's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 67.82%.

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.

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