4,138 Shares in Spire Inc. (NYSE:SR) Purchased by Walleye Capital LLC

Walleye Capital LLC purchased a new position in shares of Spire Inc. (NYSE:SR - Free Report) in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor purchased 4,138 shares of the utilities provider's stock, valued at approximately $281,000.

Several other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in SR. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. bought a new stake in shares of Spire in the 4th quarter valued at about $1,030,000. KBC Group NV raised its position 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 valued at $156,000 after purchasing an additional 750 shares during the period. Bank of New York Mellon Corp lifted its holdings in shares of Spire by 15.8% during 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 buying an additional 106,386 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its stake in Spire by 3.6% during the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 834,647 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $56,614,000 after acquiring an additional 28,715 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Principal Financial Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of Spire by 1.9% during the fourth quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 173,374 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $11,760,000 after buying an additional 3,163 shares during the last quarter. 87.36% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts have recently issued reports on SR shares. LADENBURG THALM/SH SH raised Spire to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Monday, March 17th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised shares of Spire from a "neutral" rating to an "overweight" rating and raised their price target for the company from $72.00 to $85.00 in a research note on Thursday, March 20th. Guggenheim increased their price objective on Spire from $67.00 to $72.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a report on Tuesday, April 1st. Morgan Stanley lifted their target price on Spire from $75.00 to $78.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a report on Thursday, March 20th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company increased their price target on Spire from $75.00 to $82.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Thursday. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, three have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Spire has an average rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $77.40.

Spire Price Performance

SR stock traded down $0.39 during mid-day trading on Thursday, hitting $76.16. 74,974 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 390,404. The stock has a market capitalization of $4.44 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.50, a PEG ratio of 2.82 and a beta of 0.56. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.21, a current ratio of 0.50 and a quick ratio of 0.37. Spire Inc. has a 12 month low of $57.77 and a 12 month high of $79.81. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $76.54 and a 200 day moving average price of $71.36.

Spire (NYSE:SR - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, April 30th. The utilities provider reported $3.60 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $3.70 by ($0.10). The business had revenue of $1.05 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.15 billion. Spire had a net margin of 9.70% and a return on equity of 7.88%. Spire's revenue for the quarter was down 6.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $3.45 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Spire Inc. will post 4.5 EPS for the current year.

Spire Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, July 2nd. Investors of record on Friday, April 11th will be paid a $0.785 dividend. This represents a $3.14 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.12%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, June 11th. Spire's 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.