AQR Capital Management LLC raised its position in Spire Inc. (NYSE:SR - Free Report) by 43.4% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 234,931 shares of the utilities provider's stock after buying an additional 71,094 shares during the quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC owned about 0.40% of Spire worth $18,383,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.
Several other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in SR. Centiva Capital LP bought a new stake in shares of Spire in the fourth quarter valued at $309,000. Cetera Investment Advisers raised its stake in shares of Spire by 8.7% in the fourth quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 8,151 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $553,000 after buying an additional 655 shares during the period. EP Wealth Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of Spire by 21.4% in the fourth quarter. EP Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 3,970 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $269,000 after buying an additional 701 shares during the period. Deutsche Bank AG raised its stake in shares of Spire by 21.4% in the fourth quarter. Deutsche Bank AG now owns 89,355 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $6,061,000 after buying an additional 15,769 shares during the period. Finally, Ethic Inc. raised its stake in shares of Spire by 55.9% in the fourth quarter. Ethic Inc. now owns 9,622 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $653,000 after buying an additional 3,449 shares during the period. 87.36% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.
Analyst Ratings Changes
Several brokerages have issued reports on SR. Morgan Stanley restated an "underperform" rating on shares of Spire in a research note on Wednesday, June 18th. Bank of America reiterated an "underperform" rating and issued a $76.00 price target (down from $81.00) on shares of Spire in a research report on Friday, August 15th. Stifel Nicolaus set a $81.00 price objective on Spire and gave the company a "hold" rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 15th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price objective on Spire from $85.00 to $83.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, May 28th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, three have issued a Buy rating, four have issued a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Spire presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $79.20.
Get Our Latest Stock Report on SR
Spire Stock Down 0.2%
Shares of NYSE:SR traded down $0.13 during trading on Friday, hitting $76.10. The stock had a trading volume of 523,639 shares, compared to its average volume of 396,559. Spire Inc. has a 12 month low of $61.56 and a 12 month high of $79.81. The company has a market capitalization of $4.49 billion, a PE ratio of 16.44, a PEG ratio of 2.48 and a beta of 0.70. The firm's fifty day moving average is $75.74 and its 200 day moving average is $75.42. The company has a quick ratio of 0.27, a current ratio of 0.37 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.08.
Spire (NYSE:SR - Get Free Report) last announced 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. Spire had a return on equity of 8.66% and a net margin of 11.56%.The firm had revenue of $421.90 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $417.27 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned ($0.14) EPS. The business's revenue was up 1.9% compared to the same quarter last year. Spire has set its FY 2025 guidance at 4.400-4.60 EPS. Analysts anticipate that Spire Inc. will post 4.5 EPS for the current fiscal year.
Spire Announces Dividend
The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, October 2nd. Stockholders of record on Thursday, September 11th will be given a $0.785 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, September 11th. This represents a $3.14 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.1%. Spire's dividend payout ratio is currently 67.82%.
Spire Profile
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Free Report)
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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