Jupiter Asset Management Ltd. Decreases Stake in Spire Inc. $SR

Jupiter Asset Management Ltd. cut its position in Spire Inc. (NYSE:SR) by 14.3% during the third quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 309,042 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 51,424 shares during the quarter. Jupiter Asset Management Ltd.’s holdings in Spire were worth $25,193,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. MBM Wealth Consultants LLC grew its stake in shares of Spire by 2.6% during the third quarter. MBM Wealth Consultants LLC now owns 5,507 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $449,000 after purchasing an additional 140 shares in the last quarter. Ameritas Investment Partners Inc. raised its stake in Spire by 0.8% in the second quarter. Ameritas Investment Partners Inc. now owns 17,461 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,274,000 after buying an additional 146 shares in the last quarter. Intrua Financial LLC lifted its holdings in Spire by 4.6% during the 3rd quarter. Intrua Financial LLC now owns 3,399 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $277,000 after buying an additional 148 shares during the last quarter. Inspire Investing LLC boosted its position in shares of Spire by 2.8% during the 3rd quarter. Inspire Investing LLC now owns 5,590 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $456,000 after acquiring an additional 150 shares in the last quarter. Finally, State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D boosted its position in shares of Spire by 0.6% during the 2nd quarter. State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D now owns 25,636 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,871,000 after acquiring an additional 152 shares in the last quarter. 87.36% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts have recently weighed in on SR shares. Jefferies Financial Group reissued a “buy” rating and set a $99.00 target price on shares of Spire in a research report on Wednesday, January 21st. Bank of America upgraded shares of Spire from an “underperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and increased their price target for the company from $76.00 to $89.00 in a research note on Wednesday, October 29th. UBS Group boosted their price objective on shares of Spire from $95.00 to $100.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 17th. Mizuho upped their target price on shares of Spire from $93.00 to $96.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, November 20th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus lifted their price target on shares of Spire from $81.00 to $87.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 28th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, six have given a Buy rating and four have issued a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $90.00.

Spire Price Performance

SR stock opened at $90.57 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 0.61, a quick ratio of 0.45 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.39. The company has a market capitalization of $5.35 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.69, a PEG ratio of 1.41 and a beta of 0.67. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $84.67 and a 200-day simple moving average of $82.79. Spire Inc. has a twelve month low of $69.94 and a twelve month high of $92.53.

Spire (NYSE:SR) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, February 3rd. The utilities provider reported $1.77 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.62 by $0.15. The business had revenue of $762.20 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $785.54 million. Spire had a net margin of 10.95% and a return on equity of 9.43%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 13.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $1.34 EPS. Spire has set its FY 2027 guidance at 5.650-5.850 EPS and its FY 2026 guidance at 5.250-5.450 EPS. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Spire Inc. will post 4.5 EPS for the current year.

Spire Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, April 2nd. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, March 11th will be paid a dividend of $0.825 per share. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, March 11th. This represents a $3.30 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.6%. Spire’s dividend payout ratio is 71.74%.

Spire Company Profile

Spire Inc (NYSE: SR), formerly known as The Laclede Group, is a regulated natural gas distribution company headquartered in St. Louis, Missouri. Through its three operating divisions—Spire Missouri, Spire Alabama and Spire Mississippi—the company delivers natural gas to more than 1.7 million residential, commercial and industrial customers. Spire’s service territory spans key markets in the central and southern United States, including metropolitan St. Louis, central Alabama and central Mississippi.

Founded in 1857 as the Laclede Gas Light Company, the business has grown through strategic acquisitions, notably Alabama Gas Corporation in 2013 and Mississippi Gas in 2016.