Norges Bank Invests $42.43 Million in Spire Inc. (NYSE:SR)

Norges Bank bought a new position in Spire Inc. (NYSE:SR - Free Report) during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm bought 625,560 shares of the utilities provider's stock, valued at approximately $42,432,000. Norges Bank owned approximately 1.07% of Spire as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Golden State Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in Spire during the fourth quarter worth $27,000. GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its position in Spire by 87.2% in the 4th quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 438 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $30,000 after acquiring an additional 204 shares in the last quarter. Lee Danner & Bass Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Spire in the fourth quarter worth approximately $32,000. R Squared Ltd purchased a new position in Spire during the 4th quarter worth $37,000. Finally, Capital Advisors Ltd. LLC boosted its position in Spire by 431.4% in the fourth 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. 87.36% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

SR has been the topic of a number of research reports. Mizuho lifted their price target on shares of Spire from $76.00 to $82.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Wednesday, March 19th. LADENBURG THALM/SH SH raised Spire to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Monday, March 17th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upgraded Spire from a "neutral" rating to an "overweight" rating and increased their price target for the stock from $72.00 to $85.00 in a research note on Thursday, March 20th. StockNews.com raised shares of Spire from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Thursday, April 3rd. Finally, Bank of America started coverage on Spire in a research note on Friday, December 13th. They set a "neutral" rating and a $70.00 price objective on the stock. Eight investment 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 company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $75.64.

Remove Ads

Spire Price Performance

Spire stock traded up $0.53 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, hitting $74.49. 618,756 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 387,048. 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 Inc. has a one year low of $57.27 and a one year high of $79.81. The stock has a market cap of $4.35 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.04, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.82 and a beta of 0.56. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $75.38 and a 200-day moving average price of $70.23.

Spire (NYSE:SR - Get Free Report) last announced its 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 return on equity of 7.88% and a net margin of 9.70%. On average, equities analysts predict that Spire Inc. will post 4.5 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Spire Cuts Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, April 2nd. Investors of record on Tuesday, March 11th were issued a dividend of $0.785 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, March 11th. This represents a $3.14 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.22%. Spire's dividend payout ratio is 76.03%.

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.