California Public Employees Retirement System Sells 4,432 Shares of Spire Inc. (NYSE:SR)

California Public Employees Retirement System lessened its position in shares of Spire Inc. (NYSE:SR) by 1.7% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 263,559 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 4,432 shares during the quarter. California Public Employees Retirement System owned about 0.45% of Spire worth $17,877,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its position in Spire by 5.5% during 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 period. KBC Group NV lifted its holdings in Spire by 48.2% in the fourth quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 2,307 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $156,000 after buying an additional 750 shares during the period. Bank of New York Mellon Corp boosted its stake in Spire by 15.8% in 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 acquiring an additional 106,386 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its holdings in Spire by 3.6% during the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 834,647 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $56,614,000 after acquiring an additional 28,715 shares during the period. Finally, Principal Financial Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Spire by 1.9% in the 4th quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 173,374 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $11,760,000 after purchasing an additional 3,163 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 87.36% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

SR has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. StockNews.com raised Spire from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday. Mizuho increased their price target on shares of Spire from $76.00 to $82.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 19th. LADENBURG THALM/SH SH upgraded shares of Spire to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Monday, March 17th. Morgan Stanley upped their target price on shares of Spire from $75.00 to $78.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 20th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised shares of Spire from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and lifted their price target for the stock from $72.00 to $85.00 in a research report on Thursday, March 20th. Eight research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, three have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Spire has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $75.64.

Spire Price Performance

Shares of NYSE SR opened at $75.89 on Friday. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $75.04 and a 200 day moving average price of $69.98. The firm has a market cap of $4.43 billion, a PE ratio of 18.37, a PEG ratio of 2.82 and a beta of 0.53. The company has a current ratio of 0.50, a quick ratio of 0.37 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.21. Spire Inc. has a 1-year low of $57.27 and a 1-year high of $79.81.

Spire (NYSE:SR) last posted its quarterly earnings data 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 return on equity of 7.88% and a net margin of 9.70%. Research analysts predict that Spire Inc. will post 4.5 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Spire Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, April 2nd. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, March 11th were issued a $0.785 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, March 11th. This represents a $3.14 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.14%. Spire’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 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.