Squarepoint Ops LLC Has $2.94 Million Stock Holdings in Spire Inc. (NYSE:SR)

Squarepoint Ops LLC lessened its position in shares of Spire Inc. (NYSE:SR - Free Report) by 47.1% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 43,407 shares of the utilities provider's stock after selling 38,610 shares during the quarter. Squarepoint Ops LLC owned about 0.07% of Spire worth $2,944,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Barclays PLC grew its holdings in Spire by 127.8% during the 3rd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 109,372 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $7,360,000 after acquiring an additional 61,357 shares during the period. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC boosted its position in shares of Spire by 4.0% in the 4th quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC now owns 12,155 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $824,000 after purchasing an additional 466 shares during the last quarter. Blue Trust Inc. grew its stake in shares of Spire by 26.5% during the fourth quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 1,337 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $90,000 after purchasing an additional 280 shares during the period. KBC Group NV increased its holdings in Spire by 48.2% in the fourth quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 2,307 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $156,000 after purchasing an additional 750 shares during the last quarter. Finally, R Squared Ltd acquired a new position in Spire in the fourth quarter valued at about $37,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 87.36% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts have recently commented on SR shares. LADENBURG THALM/SH SH raised Spire to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Friday, May 9th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted 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. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Spire from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Friday, May 9th. Mizuho raised their price objective on Spire from $76.00 to $82.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 19th. Finally, Guggenheim boosted their target price on Spire from $67.00 to $72.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note 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 company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $77.20.

Spire Stock Up 0.8%

NYSE:SR traded up $0.60 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $75.39. 496,301 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 396,962. The stock has a market cap of $4.45 billion, a PE ratio of 18.25, a PEG ratio of 2.82 and a beta of 0.65. Spire Inc. has a twelve month low of $57.77 and a twelve month high of $79.81. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $75.74 and a 200 day moving average of $72.75. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.21, a current ratio of 0.50 and a quick ratio of 0.37.

Spire (NYSE:SR - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, April 30th. The utilities provider reported $3.60 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $3.70 by ($0.10). The business had revenue of $1.05 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.15 billion. Spire had a return on equity of 7.88% and a net margin of 9.70%. The business's revenue for the quarter was down 6.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $3.45 EPS. On average, equities analysts expect that Spire Inc. will post 4.5 earnings per share for the current year.

Spire Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, July 2nd. Stockholders of record on Friday, April 11th will be paid a dividend of $0.785 per share. This represents a $3.14 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.17%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, June 11th. Spire's dividend payout ratio is currently 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.