California Public Employees Retirement System Reduces Stock Position in Spire Inc. (NYSE:SR)

California Public Employees Retirement System decreased its position in shares of Spire Inc. (NYSE:SR - Free Report) by 1.7% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 263,559 shares of the utilities provider's stock after selling 4,432 shares during the quarter. California Public Employees Retirement System owned approximately 0.45% of Spire worth $17,877,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Golden State Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in Spire in the fourth quarter valued at $27,000. GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its stake in shares of Spire by 87.2% in the fourth quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 438 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $30,000 after acquiring an additional 204 shares during the period. Lee Danner & Bass Inc. bought a new stake in Spire in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $32,000. R Squared Ltd acquired a new stake in Spire during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $37,000. Finally, Capital Advisors Ltd. LLC raised its holdings in Spire by 431.4% during the 4th quarter. Capital Advisors Ltd. LLC now owns 627 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $43,000 after purchasing an additional 509 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 87.36% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have commented on SR. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised shares of Spire from a "neutral" rating to an "overweight" rating and upped their price target for the company from $72.00 to $85.00 in a research report on Thursday, March 20th. Bank of America began coverage on Spire in a research report on Friday, December 13th. They set a "neutral" rating and a $70.00 target price on the stock. StockNews.com raised Spire from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Thursday, April 3rd. Guggenheim increased their price target on Spire from $67.00 to $72.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a report on Tuesday, April 1st. Finally, Morgan Stanley boosted their target price on shares of Spire from $75.00 to $78.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Thursday, March 20th. Eight research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, three have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Spire has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $75.64.

Remove Ads

Spire Stock Performance

SR traded up $0.53 on Wednesday, hitting $74.49. The company's stock had a trading volume of 618,756 shares, compared to its average volume of 387,163. Spire Inc. has a 12 month low of $57.27 and a 12 month high of $79.81. The firm has a market cap of $4.35 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.04, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.82 and a beta of 0.56. 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 company's 50 day simple moving average is $75.38 and its 200-day simple moving average is $70.23.

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

Spire Cuts Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, April 2nd. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, March 11th were given a dividend of $0.785 per share. This represents a $3.14 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.22%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, March 11th. Spire's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 76.03%.

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.