Spire Inc. $SR Shares Sold by Wedge Capital Management L L P NC

Key Points

• Wedge Capital Management L L P NC reduced its stake in Spire Inc. by 13.0% in the second quarter, selling 4,726 shares to hold a total of 31,722 shares valued at approximately $2.3 million.
• Spire recently reported a quarterly earnings per share of $0.01, exceeding analysts' expectations of a loss, with a revenue of $421.90 million for the quarter, which is a 1.9% increase year-over-year.
• The firm declared a quarterly dividend of $0.785, set to be paid on October 2nd, reflecting an annualized rate of $3.14 and a yield of 4.1%.

Wedge Capital Management L L P NC decreased its holdings in Spire Inc. (NYSE:SR - Free Report) by 13.0% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 31,722 shares of the utilities provider's stock after selling 4,726 shares during the period. Wedge Capital Management L L P NC owned 0.05% of Spire worth $2,315,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in SR. Wellington Management Group LLP increased its holdings in shares of Spire by 29.0% during the fourth quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 1,022,870 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $69,381,000 after acquiring an additional 229,662 shares in the last quarter. Nuveen LLC purchased a new stake in Spire in the 1st quarter worth $73,254,000. Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. bought a new stake in Spire in the 1st quarter worth approximately $69,889,000. Millennium Management LLC increased its position in Spire by 110.4% in the first quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 522,323 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $40,872,000 after purchasing an additional 274,124 shares during the last quarter. Finally, OLD Republic International Corp grew its position in Spire by 1.0% in the first quarter. OLD Republic International Corp now owns 433,500 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $33,921,000 after acquiring an additional 4,500 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 87.36% of the company's stock.

Spire Stock Up 0.7%

Shares of SR traded up $0.53 during midday trading on Monday, hitting $76.98. The stock had a trading volume of 565,861 shares, compared to its average volume of 438,727. The firm has a market cap of $4.54 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.63, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.49 and a beta of 0.70. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.08, a current ratio of 0.37 and a quick ratio of 0.27. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $75.95 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $75.38. Spire Inc. has a twelve month low of $61.56 and a twelve month high of $79.81.

Spire (NYSE:SR - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, August 5th. The utilities provider reported $0.01 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($0.09) by $0.10. Spire had a net margin of 11.56% and a return on equity of 8.66%. The firm had revenue of $421.90 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $417.27 million. During the same period last year, the firm earned ($0.14) EPS. The business's quarterly 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. On average, analysts anticipate that Spire Inc. will post 4.5 EPS for the current year.

Spire Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, October 2nd. Stockholders of record on Thursday, September 11th will be paid a $0.785 dividend. This represents a $3.14 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.1%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, September 11th. Spire's dividend payout ratio is 67.82%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have commented on SR. Stifel Nicolaus set a $81.00 price objective on shares of Spire and gave the company a "hold" rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 15th. Morgan Stanley reaffirmed an "underperform" rating on shares of Spire in a research report on Wednesday, June 18th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price target on shares of Spire from $85.00 to $83.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, May 28th. Finally, Bank of America reiterated an "underperform" rating and set a $76.00 target price (down from $81.00) on shares of Spire in a report on Friday, August 15th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, three have issued a Buy rating, four have assigned a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $79.20.

Spire 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.