Maryland State Retirement & Pension System Has $3.88 Million Holdings in Spire Inc. $SR

Maryland State Retirement & Pension System grew its stake in shares of Spire Inc. (NYSE:SR) by 7.5% in the 2nd quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 53,185 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 3,703 shares during the quarter. Maryland State Retirement & Pension System’s holdings in Spire were worth $3,882,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Quarry LP acquired a new stake in Spire during the first quarter worth approximately $50,000. Bayforest Capital Ltd lifted its position in Spire by 2,648.0% during the first quarter. Bayforest Capital Ltd now owns 687 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $54,000 after acquiring an additional 662 shares during the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its position in Spire by 66.0% during the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 727 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $57,000 after acquiring an additional 289 shares during the last quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC lifted its position in Spire by 75.2% during the second quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC now owns 785 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $57,000 after acquiring an additional 337 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Golden State Wealth Management LLC raised its position in shares of Spire by 103.8% in the first quarter. Golden State Wealth Management LLC now owns 803 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $63,000 after buying an additional 409 shares in the last quarter. 87.36% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms have recently weighed in on SR. Jefferies Financial Group upgraded shares of Spire to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday. Bank of America reiterated an “underperform” rating and issued a $76.00 price target (down from $81.00) on shares of Spire in a research report on Friday, August 15th. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of Spire in a research report on Wednesday. Stifel Nicolaus set a $81.00 price target on shares of Spire and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 15th. Finally, Morgan Stanley dropped their price target on shares of Spire from $81.00 to $76.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, September 25th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, four have issued a Buy rating, five have given a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $80.00.

Spire Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:SR opened at $83.12 on Friday. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $77.39 and its 200 day simple moving average is $75.85. The stock has a market capitalization of $4.91 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.95, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.43 and a beta of 0.69. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.08, a current ratio of 0.37 and a quick ratio of 0.27. Spire Inc. has a 1 year low of $61.56 and a 1 year high of $83.95.

Spire (NYSE:SR) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, August 5th. The utilities provider reported $0.01 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.09) by $0.10. The business had revenue of $421.90 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $417.27 million. Spire had a net margin of 11.56% and a return on equity of 8.66%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 1.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm posted ($0.14) earnings per share. Spire has set its FY 2025 guidance at 4.400-4.60 EPS. As a group, research analysts predict that Spire Inc. will post 4.5 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Spire Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, October 2nd. Investors of record on Thursday, September 11th were paid a $0.785 dividend. This represents a $3.14 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.8%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, September 11th. Spire’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 67.82%.

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.