Spire Inc. (NYSE:SR) Shares Purchased by Maryland State Retirement & Pension System

Maryland State Retirement & Pension System boosted its position in shares of Spire Inc. (NYSE:SR) by 1.3% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 44,219 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after buying an additional 570 shares during the period. Maryland State Retirement & Pension System’s holdings in Spire were worth $2,757,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Raymond James & Associates raised its stake in Spire by 85.7% during the third quarter. Raymond James & Associates now owns 48,150 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $2,724,000 after purchasing an additional 22,216 shares during the period. Raymond James Financial Services Advisors Inc. boosted its holdings in Spire by 5.1% during the 3rd quarter. Raymond James Financial Services Advisors Inc. now owns 5,325 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $301,000 after acquiring an additional 258 shares during the period. Verdence Capital Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in Spire by 48.5% during the 3rd quarter. Verdence Capital Advisors LLC now owns 4,988 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $282,000 after acquiring an additional 1,630 shares during the period. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank increased its stake in Spire by 11.9% during the third quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank now owns 9,553 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $541,000 after purchasing an additional 1,018 shares during the period. Finally, IFM Investors Pty Ltd lifted its position in shares of Spire by 8.6% during the third quarter. IFM Investors Pty Ltd now owns 6,867 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $389,000 after purchasing an additional 541 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 87.36% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Spire

In other Spire news, Treasurer Adam W. Woodard sold 1,229 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $59.58, for a total transaction of $73,223.82. Following the transaction, the treasurer now directly owns 1,560 shares in the company, valued at $92,944.80. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Company insiders own 2.86% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed a “sector perform” rating and set a $65.00 target price on shares of Spire in a research note on Tuesday, April 16th. Mizuho lowered Spire from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and decreased their target price for the company from $64.00 to $62.00 in a report on Thursday, May 2nd. LADENBURG THALM/SH SH assumed coverage on Spire in a report on Friday, April 26th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $57.50 price target on the stock. UBS Group started coverage on shares of Spire in a report on Friday, April 12th. They set a “buy” rating and a $68.00 price target for the company. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on shares of Spire from $64.00 to $66.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, May 2nd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and one has issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $61.72.

Spire Stock Performance

NYSE SR traded down $0.01 on Wednesday, reaching $61.80. The stock had a trading volume of 10,244 shares, compared to its average volume of 487,158. The stock has a market cap of $3.57 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.61, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.83 and a beta of 0.50. Spire Inc. has a 12-month low of $53.77 and a 12-month high of $69.99. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $60.33 and its 200 day moving average price is $60.17. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.09, a quick ratio of 0.48 and a current ratio of 0.61.

Spire (NYSE:SR) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, May 1st. The utilities provider reported $3.45 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.86 by ($0.41). The business had revenue of $1.13 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.21 billion. Spire had a net margin of 9.05% and a return on equity of 7.88%. Spire’s quarterly revenue was up .5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $3.70 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts expect that Spire Inc. will post 4.34 earnings per share for the current year.

Spire Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, July 2nd. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, June 11th will be given a dividend of $0.755 per share. This represents a $3.02 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.89%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, June 11th. Spire’s payout ratio is 76.26%.

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.