Spire Inc. (NYSE:SR) Shares Purchased by Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc.

Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its holdings in Spire Inc. (NYSE:SR) by 3.6% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 834,647 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 28,715 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. owned about 1.44% of Spire worth $56,614,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in SR. Meeder Asset Management Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Spire in the third quarter worth about $25,000. Golden State Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Spire in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $27,000. GAMMA Investing LLC increased its position in Spire by 87.2% during the fourth quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 438 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $30,000 after acquiring an additional 204 shares during the period. Larson Financial Group LLC increased its position in Spire by 1,318.4% during the third quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC now owns 539 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $36,000 after acquiring an additional 501 shares during the period. Finally, R Squared Ltd bought a new stake in Spire in the 4th quarter valued at $37,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 87.36% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts have recently issued reports on SR shares. Bank of America started coverage on shares of Spire in a research note on Friday, December 13th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $70.00 price objective for the company. Stifel Nicolaus reduced their target price on shares of Spire from $70.00 to $69.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, November 22nd. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Spire from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Friday, February 14th. Morgan Stanley cut their price target on shares of Spire from $77.00 to $75.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, November 22nd. Finally, UBS Group raised their target price on shares of Spire from $75.00 to $80.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, November 21st. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Spire currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $74.00.

Spire Stock Down 0.3 %

SR stock opened at $74.78 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $4.36 billion, a PE ratio of 18.11, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.82 and a beta of 0.53. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $72.13 and a 200 day simple moving average of $68.70. Spire Inc. has a 52 week low of $57.27 and a 52 week high of $78.80. The company has a quick ratio of 0.37, a current ratio of 0.50 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.21.

Spire (NYSE:SR) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, February 5th. The utilities provider reported $1.34 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%. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Spire Inc. will post 4.5 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Spire Cuts Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 2nd. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, March 11th will be issued a dividend of $0.785 per share. This represents a $3.14 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.20%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, March 11th. Spire’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 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.