Vestcor Inc Purchases Shares of 4,445 Spire Inc. (NYSE:SR)

Vestcor Inc acquired a new position in Spire Inc. (NYSE:SR) during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm acquired 4,445 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $302,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in SR. Crossmark Global Holdings Inc. raised its position in Spire by 5.2% in the third quarter. Crossmark Global Holdings Inc. now owns 3,572 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $240,000 after acquiring an additional 177 shares during the period. GAMMA Investing LLC increased its stake in shares of Spire by 87.2% in the 4th quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 438 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $30,000 after purchasing an additional 204 shares in the last quarter. Parkside Financial Bank & Trust raised its holdings in Spire by 11.7% in the 4th quarter. Parkside Financial Bank & Trust now owns 2,308 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $157,000 after purchasing an additional 241 shares during the period. Chicago Partners Investment Group LLC lifted its position in Spire by 8.6% during the fourth quarter. Chicago Partners Investment Group LLC now owns 3,406 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $230,000 after purchasing an additional 271 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Blue Trust Inc. grew its holdings in Spire by 26.5% during the fourth quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 1,337 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $90,000 after purchasing an additional 280 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 87.36% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Janney Montgomery Scott began coverage on Spire in a research report on Tuesday, December 17th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $73.00 price objective on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price target on shares of Spire from $73.00 to $75.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, November 21st. StockNews.com cut shares of Spire from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Friday, February 14th. Morgan Stanley lowered their target price on shares of Spire from $77.00 to $75.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, November 22nd. Finally, Mizuho upgraded Spire from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and increased their price target for the stock from $65.00 to $76.00 in a research note on Friday, December 20th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $74.00.

Spire Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE SR opened at $76.26 on Tuesday. The company has a market cap of $4.45 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.46, a P/E/G ratio of 2.82 and a beta of 0.53. Spire Inc. has a 52-week low of $57.27 and a 52-week high of $78.80. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.21, a quick ratio of 0.37 and a current ratio of 0.50. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $72.49 and its two-hundred day moving average is $68.90.

Spire (NYSE:SR) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, February 5th. The utilities provider reported $1.34 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.42 by ($0.08). Spire had a return on equity of 7.88% and a net margin of 9.70%. As a group, analysts anticipate that Spire Inc. will post 4.5 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Spire Cuts Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 2nd. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, March 11th will be given a dividend of $0.785 per share. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, March 11th. This represents a $3.14 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.12%. Spire’s dividend payout ratio is currently 76.03%.

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.