Teacher Retirement System of Texas Invests $661,000 in Spire Inc. (NYSE:SR)

Teacher Retirement System of Texas purchased a new position in Spire Inc. (NYSE:SR - Free Report) in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm purchased 8,450 shares of the utilities provider's stock, valued at approximately $661,000.

Several other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in SR. Cornerstone Wealth Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Spire by 1.7% during the first quarter. Cornerstone Wealth Management LLC now owns 7,870 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $616,000 after buying an additional 133 shares during the last quarter. UMB Bank n.a. lifted its stake 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 acquiring an additional 151 shares during the period. Blair William & Co. IL boosted its holdings in shares of Spire by 2.6% during the 4th quarter. Blair William & Co. IL now owns 6,027 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $409,000 after acquiring an additional 152 shares during the last quarter. Gamco Investors INC. ET AL grew its stake in shares of 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 acquiring an additional 200 shares during the period. Finally, Blue Trust Inc. raised its holdings in shares of 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. Institutional investors own 87.36% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts have recently commented on SR shares. Stifel Nicolaus set a $81.00 price objective on Spire and gave the company a "hold" rating in a research report on Tuesday. LADENBURG THALM/SH SH upgraded Spire to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Friday, May 9th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on Spire from $75.00 to $82.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Morgan Stanley reaffirmed an "underperform" rating on shares of Spire in a report on Wednesday, June 18th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their target price on shares of Spire from $85.00 to $83.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, May 28th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating, three have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, Spire currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $78.60.

Spire Stock Down 0.1%

SR stock traded down $0.10 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $75.31. The company had a trading volume of 347,382 shares, compared to its average volume of 412,653. Spire Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $61.56 and a fifty-two week high of $79.81. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $73.83 and a 200 day simple moving average of $73.98. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.03, a quick ratio of 0.34 and a current ratio of 0.43. The company has a market capitalization of $4.44 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.55, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.56 and a beta of 0.62.

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 analysts' consensus estimates of $3.70 by ($0.10). The business had revenue of $1.05 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $1.15 billion. Spire had a net margin of 10.22% and a return on equity of 8.49%. Spire's quarterly revenue was down 6.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $3.45 earnings per share. Analysts forecast that Spire Inc. will post 4.5 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Spire Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, July 2nd. Shareholders of record on Friday, April 11th were issued a $0.785 dividend. This represents a $3.14 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.17%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, June 11th. 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.