Jump Financial LLC Acquires New Position in Spire Inc. (NYSE:SR)

Jump Financial LLC acquired a new stake in Spire Inc. (NYSE:SR - Free Report) during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor acquired 21,135 shares of the utilities provider's stock, valued at approximately $1,434,000.

A number of other large investors have also made changes to their positions in the stock. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. purchased a new position in Spire in the 4th quarter valued at about $1,030,000. KBC Group NV lifted its stake in shares of Spire by 48.2% during the fourth quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 2,307 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $156,000 after buying an additional 750 shares during the period. Bank of New York Mellon Corp boosted its position in 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 acquiring an additional 106,386 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its stake 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 acquiring an additional 28,715 shares during the period. Finally, Principal Financial Group Inc. raised its holdings in Spire by 1.9% in the 4th quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 173,374 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $11,760,000 after acquiring an additional 3,163 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 87.36% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts have recently commented on the company. Morgan Stanley lifted their price objective on Spire from $75.00 to $78.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Thursday, March 20th. LADENBURG THALM/SH SH raised shares of Spire to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Monday, March 17th. Mizuho increased their target price on Spire from $76.00 to $82.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 19th. Guggenheim boosted their target price on Spire from $67.00 to $72.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a report on Tuesday, April 1st. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded shares of Spire from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Thursday, April 3rd. 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 stock. According to MarketBeat, Spire presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $76.70.

Spire Stock Up 0.6 %

SR stock traded up $0.45 during midday trading on Thursday, hitting $77.96. 370,663 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 389,386. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $76.26 and a 200-day moving average price of $70.92. Spire Inc. has a 12-month low of $57.77 and a 12-month high of $79.81. The stock has a market capitalization of $4.55 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.88, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.82 and a beta of 0.56. The company has a current ratio of 0.50, a quick ratio of 0.37 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.21.

Spire (NYSE:SR - Get Free Report) last posted 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%. On average, analysts anticipate that Spire Inc. will post 4.5 EPS for the current year.

Spire Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, July 2nd. Investors of record on Friday, April 11th will be given a dividend of $0.785 per share. This represents a $3.14 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.03%. Spire's dividend payout ratio is currently 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.