Jump Financial LLC Takes Position in Spire Inc. (NYSE:SR)

Jump Financial LLC acquired a new position in Spire Inc. (NYSE:SR) in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor acquired 21,135 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $1,434,000.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of SR. Golden State Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Spire in the fourth quarter worth $27,000. GAMMA Investing LLC grew its stake in 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 purchasing an additional 204 shares in the last quarter. Lee Danner & Bass Inc. acquired a new position in Spire in the 4th quarter worth about $32,000. R Squared Ltd purchased a new stake in shares of Spire during the 4th quarter worth about $37,000. Finally, Capital Advisors Ltd. LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Spire by 431.4% during the 4th quarter. Capital Advisors Ltd. LLC now owns 627 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $43,000 after buying an additional 509 shares during the last quarter. 87.36% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts recently commented on the company. Morgan Stanley increased their price objective on Spire from $75.00 to $78.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, March 20th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Spire from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, April 3rd. Guggenheim lifted their price objective on shares of Spire from $67.00 to $72.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 1st. Mizuho increased their target price on shares of Spire from $76.00 to $82.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 19th. Finally, LADENBURG THALM/SH SH upgraded Spire to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Monday, March 17th. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, three have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $76.70.

Spire Trading Down 0.1 %

Shares of SR stock opened at $77.48 on Friday. 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 has a fifty day moving average of $76.02 and a 200-day moving average of $70.70. Spire Inc. has a 52-week low of $57.77 and a 52-week high of $79.81. The stock has a market cap of $4.52 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.76, a P/E/G ratio of 2.82 and a beta of 0.56.

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

Spire Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, April 2nd. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, March 11th were paid a $0.785 dividend. This represents a $3.14 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.05%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, March 11th. 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.