Geode Capital Management LLC Has $93.63 Million Stock Holdings in Spire Inc. (NYSE:SR)

Geode Capital Management LLC decreased its position in Spire Inc. (NYSE:SR - Free Report) by 0.4% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 1,380,037 shares of the utilities provider's stock after selling 5,415 shares during the quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC owned about 2.37% of Spire worth $93,630,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the business. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Spire by 0.8% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 6,168,221 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $418,390,000 after purchasing an additional 46,434 shares during the period. State Street Corp increased its position in Spire by 1.4% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 3,154,230 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $214,535,000 after acquiring an additional 44,969 shares in the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its position in Spire by 29.0% in the 4th quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 1,022,870 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $69,381,000 after buying an additional 229,662 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its position in 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, Bank of New York Mellon Corp boosted its stake in 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 valued at $52,802,000 after acquiring an additional 106,386 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 87.36% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts recently issued reports on the company. Mizuho increased their target price on Spire from $76.00 to $82.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 19th. LADENBURG THALM/SH SH raised Spire to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Monday, March 17th. Guggenheim lifted their target price on Spire from $67.00 to $72.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 1st. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Spire from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Thursday, April 3rd. Finally, Morgan Stanley upped their price objective on Spire from $75.00 to $78.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a report on Thursday, March 20th. Eight research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, three have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $75.64.

Spire Price Performance

SR traded up $1.18 during trading on Wednesday, hitting $77.95. 46,610 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 386,711. Spire Inc. has a twelve month low of $57.27 and a twelve month high of $79.81. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.21, a current ratio of 0.50 and a quick ratio of 0.37. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $75.70 and a 200 day moving average price of $70.48. The company has a market cap of $4.55 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.88, a PEG ratio of 2.82 and a beta of 0.56.

Spire (NYSE:SR - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 5th. The utilities provider reported $1.34 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.42 by ($0.08). Spire had a net margin of 9.70% and a return on equity of 7.88%. Equities research analysts forecast that Spire Inc. will post 4.5 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Spire Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, April 2nd. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, March 11th were paid a $0.785 dividend. This represents a $3.14 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.03%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, March 11th. Spire's dividend payout ratio is 76.03%.

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.