Susquehanna International Group LLP Purchases 16,331 Shares of Spire Inc. (NYSE:SR)

Susquehanna International Group LLP grew its position in shares of Spire Inc. (NYSE:SR - Free Report) by 140.1% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 27,988 shares of the utilities provider's stock after buying an additional 16,331 shares during the period. Susquehanna International Group LLP's holdings in Spire were worth $1,898,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in Spire by 0.8% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 6,168,221 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $418,390,000 after acquiring an additional 46,434 shares during the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its stake in shares of 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 purchasing an additional 229,662 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its holdings in shares of Spire by 1.6% during the 4th quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,002,938 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $68,028,000 after purchasing an additional 15,835 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its position in Spire by 3.6% during the 4th 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 in the last quarter. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp lifted its stake in Spire by 15.8% in the 4th quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 778,442 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $52,802,000 after purchasing an additional 106,386 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 87.36% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

SR has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Guggenheim upped their price target on shares of Spire from $67.00 to $72.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a report on Tuesday, April 1st. LADENBURG THALM/SH SH upgraded Spire to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Monday, March 17th. Mizuho lifted their price target on Spire from $76.00 to $82.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 19th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on Spire from $75.00 to $82.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. upgraded shares of Spire from a "neutral" rating to an "overweight" rating and lifted their target price for the stock from $72.00 to $85.00 in a research report on Thursday, March 20th. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, three have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $77.40.

Spire Price Performance

SR stock opened at $74.61 on Friday. The company's fifty day simple moving average is $76.45 and its 200 day simple moving average is $71.90. Spire Inc. has a 12-month low of $57.77 and a 12-month high of $79.81. The company has a quick ratio of 0.37, a current ratio of 0.50 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.21. The firm has a market cap of $4.40 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.07, a PEG ratio of 2.82 and a beta of 0.65.

Spire (NYSE:SR - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results 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 business had revenue of $1.05 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.15 billion. Spire had a return on equity of 7.88% and a net margin of 9.70%. The company's revenue for the quarter was down 6.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $3.45 earnings per share. On average, analysts expect that Spire Inc. will post 4.5 earnings per share for the current year.

Spire Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, July 2nd. Shareholders of record on Friday, April 11th will be issued a $0.785 dividend. This represents a $3.14 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.21%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, June 11th. Spire's payout ratio is 77.34%.

Spire Company 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.

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