6,817 Shares in Spire Inc. (NYSE:SR) Purchased by Schonfeld Strategic Advisors LLC

Schonfeld Strategic Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Spire Inc. (NYSE:SR) during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund purchased 6,817 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $462,000.

Other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Northern Trust Corp grew its holdings in shares of Spire by 13.0% during the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 845,612 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $57,358,000 after purchasing an additional 97,573 shares during the last quarter. Aquatic Capital Management LLC bought a new stake in Spire during the 4th quarter worth about $741,000. Boothbay Fund Management LLC acquired a new stake in Spire in the 4th quarter valued at about $3,072,000. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD raised its stake in shares of Spire by 12.2% in the fourth quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 42,195 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $2,863,000 after acquiring an additional 4,574 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Susquehanna International Group LLP lifted its position in shares of Spire by 140.1% during the fourth quarter. Susquehanna International Group LLP now owns 27,988 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,898,000 after purchasing an additional 16,331 shares in the last quarter. 87.36% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts have issued reports on the company. LADENBURG THALM/SH SH raised Spire to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Monday, March 17th. StockNews.com upgraded Spire from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised Spire from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and boosted their price objective for the stock from $72.00 to $85.00 in a report on Thursday, March 20th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on shares of Spire from $75.00 to $82.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Finally, Guggenheim boosted their price target on shares of Spire from $67.00 to $72.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 1st. Seven 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 stock. According to MarketBeat, Spire presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $77.40.

Spire Price Performance

Shares of SR stock opened at $74.61 on Friday. 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 Inc. has a 12-month low of $57.77 and a 12-month high of $79.81. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $76.45 and a 200-day moving average of $71.90. The firm has a market capitalization of $4.40 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.07, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.82 and a beta of 0.65.

Spire (NYSE:SR) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 30th. The utilities provider reported $3.60 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.70 by ($0.10). Spire had a return on equity of 7.88% and a net margin of 9.70%. The business had revenue of $1.05 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.15 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $3.45 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 6.8% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Spire Inc. will post 4.5 earnings per share for the current year.

Spire Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, July 2nd. Stockholders of record on Friday, April 11th will be given a dividend of $0.785 per share. This represents a $3.14 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.21%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, June 11th. Spire’s dividend payout ratio is 77.34%.

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.