Barclays PLC grew its stake in Spire Inc. (NYSE:SR - Free Report) by 31.9% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 144,211 shares of the utilities provider's stock after purchasing an additional 34,839 shares during the period. Barclays PLC owned about 0.25% of Spire worth $9,782,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.
Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in Spire during the fourth quarter worth $42,432,000. Wellington Management Group LLP raised its position in shares of Spire by 29.0% in the fourth quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 1,022,870 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $69,381,000 after acquiring an additional 229,662 shares during the period. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its stake in shares of Spire by 48.0% during the 4th quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 428,701 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $29,079,000 after acquiring an additional 138,971 shares in the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. purchased a new stake in shares of Spire during the 4th quarter worth about $8,277,000. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp grew its position 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 period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 87.36% of the company's stock.
Analyst Ratings Changes
A number of equities analysts have issued reports on the company. Morgan Stanley increased their price target on Spire from $75.00 to $78.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Thursday, March 20th. Mizuho increased their target price on Spire from $76.00 to $82.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 19th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised shares of Spire from a "neutral" rating to an "overweight" rating and boosted their price target for the stock from $72.00 to $85.00 in a report on Thursday, March 20th. Guggenheim upped their price objective on shares of Spire from $67.00 to $72.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 1st. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded shares of Spire from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Thursday, April 3rd. Seven equities 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.com, the stock presently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $76.70.
Check Out Our Latest Research Report on SR
Spire Stock Performance
NYSE:SR opened at $77.81 on Wednesday. The company has a market cap of $4.54 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.84, a P/E/G ratio of 2.82 and a beta of 0.56. Spire Inc. has a twelve month low of $57.77 and a twelve month high of $79.81. The company's 50-day moving average price is $76.19 and its 200-day moving average price is $70.87. 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 released its earnings results on Wednesday, February 5th. The utilities provider reported $1.34 earnings per share 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%. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Spire Inc. will post 4.5 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.
Spire Cuts Dividend
The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, April 2nd. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, March 11th were paid a dividend of $0.785 per share. This represents a $3.14 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.04%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, March 11th. Spire's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 76.03%.
About Spire
(
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.
See Also
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