Greenland Capital Management LP bought a new stake in shares of Spire Inc. (NYSE:SR - Free Report) in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm bought 8,780 shares of the utilities provider's stock, valued at approximately $596,000.
Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Spire by 5.5% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,385,452 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $93,244,000 after purchasing an additional 71,798 shares during the last quarter. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. bought a new stake in shares of Spire during the 4th quarter worth about $1,030,000. KBC Group NV boosted its stake in shares of Spire by 48.2% during the 4th quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 2,307 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $156,000 after acquiring an additional 750 shares in the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp increased its holdings in shares of Spire by 15.8% during 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 acquiring an additional 106,386 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its holdings in Spire by 3.6% in 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 during the last quarter. 87.36% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.
Analysts Set New Price Targets
A number of equities analysts have recently commented on SR shares. Guggenheim lifted their price target on shares of Spire from $67.00 to $72.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 1st. Bank of America started coverage on shares of Spire in a report on Friday, December 13th. They issued a "neutral" rating and a $70.00 target price on the stock. Morgan Stanley upped their price target on shares of Spire from $75.00 to $78.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a report on Thursday, March 20th. Janney Montgomery Scott assumed coverage on Spire in a research note on Tuesday, December 17th. They issued a "neutral" rating and a $73.00 price objective on the stock. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded Spire from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Thursday, April 3rd. Eight 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. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $75.64.
Check Out Our Latest Research Report on SR
Spire Price Performance
Shares of NYSE:SR traded up $0.32 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $74.97. 370,978 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 388,402. The firm has a market capitalization of $4.37 billion, a PE ratio of 18.15, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.82 and a beta of 0.56. The company's 50 day simple moving average is $75.51 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $70.34. Spire Inc. has a 12 month low of $57.27 and a 12 month high of $79.81. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.21, a quick ratio of 0.37 and a current ratio of 0.50.
Spire (NYSE:SR - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 5th. The utilities provider reported $1.34 earnings per share 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 expect that Spire Inc. will post 4.5 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.
Spire Cuts Dividend
The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, April 2nd. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, March 11th were paid a $0.785 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, March 11th. This represents a $3.14 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.19%. Spire's dividend payout ratio is presently 76.03%.
Spire Company Profile
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Free Report)
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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