Spire Inc. (NYSE:SR) Shares Purchased by William Blair Investment Management LLC

William Blair Investment Management LLC grew its position in Spire Inc. (NYSE:SR - Free Report) by 2.5% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 460,769 shares of the utilities provider's stock after buying an additional 11,109 shares during the period. William Blair Investment Management LLC owned 0.79% of Spire worth $31,254,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. State Street Corp raised its position in shares of Spire by 1.4% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 3,154,230 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $214,535,000 after purchasing an additional 44,969 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its position 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. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its position in shares of Spire by 3.6% in the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 834,647 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $56,614,000 after purchasing an additional 28,715 shares during the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp raised its position in shares of Spire by 15.8% in 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 purchasing an additional 106,386 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Thrivent Financial for Lutherans raised its position in shares of Spire by 0.3% in the 3rd quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans now owns 646,206 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $43,483,000 after purchasing an additional 1,681 shares during the last quarter. 87.36% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts recently commented on SR shares. LADENBURG THALM/SH SH raised shares of Spire to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Monday, March 17th. StockNews.com raised shares of Spire from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Tuesday. Morgan Stanley raised their price target on shares of Spire from $75.00 to $78.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Thursday. Mizuho raised their price target on shares of Spire from $76.00 to $82.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Wednesday. Finally, Bank of America began coverage on shares of Spire in a research report on Friday, December 13th. They set a "neutral" rating and a $70.00 price target for the company. Seven investment 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's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Spire currently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $76.00.

Spire Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:SR traded down $1.10 during trading on Friday, hitting $76.31. 898,892 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 345,711. 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 has a market cap of $4.45 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.48, a P/E/G ratio of 2.82 and a beta of 0.53. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $73.30 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $69.16. Spire Inc. has a 52-week low of $57.27 and a 52-week high of $78.83.

Spire (NYSE:SR - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results 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%. As a group, equities analysts predict that Spire Inc. will post 4.5 EPS for the current year.

Spire Cuts Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 2nd. Investors of record on Tuesday, March 11th will be paid a $0.785 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, March 11th. This represents a $3.14 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.11%. Spire's dividend payout ratio is currently 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.