Spire Inc. (NYSE:SR) Shares Sold by Geode Capital Management LLC

Geode Capital Management LLC cut its holdings in Spire Inc. (NYSE:SR) by 0.4% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 1,380,037 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 5,415 shares during the quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC owned about 2.37% of Spire worth $93,630,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the business. Blair William & Co. IL lifted its holdings in shares of Spire by 2.6% in the 4th quarter. Blair William & Co. IL now owns 6,027 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $409,000 after buying an additional 152 shares during the period. GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its position in shares of Spire by 87.2% in the fourth quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 438 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $30,000 after acquiring an additional 204 shares in the last quarter. Parkside Financial Bank & Trust lifted 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 valued at $157,000 after purchasing an additional 241 shares in the last quarter. Chicago Partners Investment Group LLC lifted its stake in shares of 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 buying an additional 271 shares during the period. Finally, Blue Trust Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Spire by 26.5% during the fourth quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 1,337 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $90,000 after purchasing an additional 280 shares during the last quarter. 87.36% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research analysts recently weighed in on SR shares. StockNews.com upgraded Spire from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, April 3rd. Guggenheim boosted their target price on shares of Spire from $67.00 to $72.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 1st. Mizuho upped their target price on Spire from $76.00 to $82.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 19th. 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. upgraded Spire from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and raised their price objective for the stock from $72.00 to $85.00 in a research note on Thursday, March 20th. Eight analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, three have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $75.64.

Spire Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE SR opened at $74.65 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 0.50, a quick ratio of 0.37 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.21. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $75.44 and a 200 day simple moving average of $70.29. Spire Inc. has a one year low of $57.27 and a one year high of $79.81. The firm has a market capitalization of $4.36 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.07, a PEG ratio of 2.82 and a beta of 0.56.

Spire (NYSE:SR) last issued 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%. Sell-side analysts expect that Spire Inc. will post 4.5 EPS for the current year.

Spire Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, April 2nd. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, March 11th were issued a dividend of $0.785 per share. This represents a $3.14 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.21%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, March 11th. Spire’s dividend payout ratio is presently 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.