ProShare Advisors LLC Has $43.34 Million Stock Holdings in Spire Inc. (NYSE:SR)

ProShare Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in Spire Inc. (NYSE:SR - Free Report) by 6.3% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 638,998 shares of the utilities provider's stock after acquiring an additional 38,033 shares during the quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC owned 1.10% of Spire worth $43,343,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. bought a new position in Spire during the fourth quarter valued at about $1,030,000. KBC Group NV increased its stake in shares of Spire by 48.2% in the fourth quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 2,307 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $156,000 after purchasing an additional 750 shares during the period. Bank of New York Mellon Corp increased its stake in shares of Spire by 15.8% in the fourth quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 778,442 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $52,802,000 after purchasing an additional 106,386 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its stake in shares of Spire by 3.6% in the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 834,647 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $56,614,000 after purchasing an additional 28,715 shares during the period. Finally, Principal Financial Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of Spire by 1.9% in the fourth quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 173,374 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $11,760,000 after purchasing an additional 3,163 shares during the period. 87.36% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts have recently commented on the company. LADENBURG THALM/SH SH upgraded Spire to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note 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. StockNews.com upgraded Spire from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Friday, May 9th. Mizuho lifted 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 lifted their price objective on Spire from $67.00 to $72.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 1st. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, three have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $77.40.

Spire Stock Performance

SR stock traded down $0.86 during trading on Wednesday, reaching $74.28. 92,857 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 391,102. The company has a current ratio of 0.50, a quick ratio of 0.37 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.21. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $76.04 and a 200-day simple moving average of $72.29. The company has a market capitalization of $4.38 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.99, a price-to-earnings-growth 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.

Spire (NYSE:SR - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 30th. The utilities provider reported $3.60 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $3.70 by ($0.10). The company had revenue of $1.05 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.15 billion. Spire had a net margin of 9.70% and a return on equity of 7.88%. The firm's revenue for the quarter was down 6.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $3.45 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate 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. Shareholders of record on Friday, April 11th will be issued a dividend of $0.785 per share. This represents a $3.14 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.23%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, June 11th. Spire's payout ratio is 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.