17,100 Shares in Spire Inc. $SR Acquired by Louisiana State Employees Retirement System

Louisiana State Employees Retirement System bought a new stake in shares of Spire Inc. (NYSE:SR) in the 1st quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm bought 17,100 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $1,548,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in SR. MBM Wealth Consultants LLC grew its position in shares of Spire by 6.2% during the 1st quarter. MBM Wealth Consultants LLC now owns 6,248 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $566,000 after acquiring an additional 367 shares during the period. BTC Capital Management Inc. raised its holdings in Spire by 5.0% in the 1st quarter. BTC Capital Management Inc. now owns 3,719 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $337,000 after purchasing an additional 177 shares during the period. Leeward Investments LLC MA raised its holdings in Spire by 19.4% in the 1st quarter. Leeward Investments LLC MA now owns 141,025 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $12,768,000 after purchasing an additional 22,923 shares during the period. SG Americas Securities LLC raised its holdings in Spire by 96.4% in the 1st quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 97,812 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $8,856,000 after purchasing an additional 48,016 shares during the period. Finally, Hsbc Holdings PLC purchased a new position in Spire during the fourth quarter valued at $1,490,000. 87.36% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts have issued reports on the company. Wells Fargo & Company began coverage on Spire in a report on Monday, May 11th. They set an “overweight” rating and a $96.00 price target for the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and set a $85.00 price objective (up from $84.00) on shares of Spire in a research report on Friday, June 26th. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Spire in a research note on Wednesday, June 17th. TD Cowen started coverage on shares of Spire in a report on Thursday, April 16th. They issued a “hold” rating and a $101.00 target price for the company. Finally, UBS Group decreased their target price on shares of Spire from $106.00 to $103.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, May 8th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, five have assigned a Buy rating and five have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $95.10.

Spire Trading Up 0.1%

Shares of SR stock opened at $78.14 on Thursday. Spire Inc. has a 52-week low of $71.24 and a 52-week high of $95.31. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.69, a quick ratio of 0.48 and a current ratio of 0.55. The firm has a market capitalization of $4.62 billion, a PE ratio of 13.73, a PEG ratio of 1.74 and a beta of 0.52. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $83.64 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $86.33.

Spire (NYSE:SR) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, May 6th. The utilities provider reported $3.76 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.72 by $0.04. Spire had a return on equity of 9.49% and a net margin of 13.97%.The business had revenue of $1.02 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.07 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $3.60 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 4.5% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts predict that Spire Inc. will post 4.02 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Spire Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, July 2nd. Investors of record on Thursday, June 11th will be paid a dividend of $0.825 per share. This represents a $3.30 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.2%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, June 11th. Spire’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 58.00%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Spire news, Director Paul D. Koonce purchased 2,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, May 8th. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $85.81 per share, for a total transaction of $171,620.00. Following the purchase, the director directly owned 7,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $600,670. This trade represents a 40.00% increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, SVP Ryan L. Hyman sold 3,822 shares of Spire stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, June 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $80.51, for a total transaction of $307,709.22. Following the sale, the senior vice president owned 14,295 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,150,890.45. The trade was a 21.10% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Over the last three months, insiders purchased 3,000 shares of company stock worth $251,100. 2.26% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Spire Company Profile

Spire Inc (NYSE: SR), formerly known as The Laclede Group, is a regulated natural gas distribution company headquartered in St. Louis, Missouri. Through its three operating divisions—Spire Missouri, Spire Alabama and Spire Mississippi—the company delivers natural gas to more than 1.7 million residential, commercial and industrial customers. Spire’s service territory spans key markets in the central and southern United States, including metropolitan St. Louis, central Alabama and central Mississippi.

Founded in 1857 as the Laclede Gas Light Company, the business has grown through strategic acquisitions, notably Alabama Gas Corporation in 2013 and Mississippi Gas in 2016.