Wellington Management Group LLP Acquires 229,662 Shares of Spire Inc. (NYSE:SR)

Wellington Management Group LLP lifted its holdings in shares of Spire Inc. (NYSE:SR - Free Report) by 29.0% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 1,022,870 shares of the utilities provider's stock after purchasing an additional 229,662 shares during the quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP owned 1.75% of Spire worth $69,381,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of SR. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in Spire by 0.8% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 6,168,221 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $418,390,000 after acquiring an additional 46,434 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp grew its holdings in Spire by 1.4% during the third 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 period. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Spire by 5.5% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,385,452 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $93,244,000 after acquiring an additional 71,798 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its position in shares of Spire by 3.6% in the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 834,647 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $56,614,000 after buying an additional 28,715 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp raised 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 valued at $52,802,000 after purchasing an additional 106,386 shares in the last quarter. 87.36% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Spire Stock Performance

NYSE:SR traded down $0.26 during trading hours on Thursday, reaching $74.30. 39,839 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 385,813. 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 firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $75.38 and a 200-day simple moving average of $70.23. Spire Inc. has a 52 week low of $57.27 and a 52 week high of $79.81. The stock has a market capitalization of $4.34 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.99, a P/E/G ratio of 2.82 and a beta of 0.56.

Spire (NYSE:SR - Get Free Report) last announced 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, sell-side analysts forecast 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. Shareholders 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 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.23%. Spire's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 76.03%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages have recently issued reports on SR. Morgan Stanley increased their target price on Spire from $75.00 to $78.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Thursday, March 20th. Guggenheim boosted their target price on Spire from $67.00 to $72.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 1st. LADENBURG THALM/SH SH raised Spire to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Monday, March 17th. Mizuho increased their target price on shares of Spire from $76.00 to $82.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 19th. Finally, Bank of America started coverage on shares of Spire in a research note on Friday, December 13th. They issued a "neutral" rating and a $70.00 price target for the company. Eight research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, three have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $75.64.

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.