Teacher Retirement System of Texas Takes Position in Spire Inc. (NYSE:SR)

Teacher Retirement System of Texas bought a new position in Spire Inc. (NYSE:SR) during the 1st quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor bought 8,450 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $661,000.

Several other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of Spire by 0.8% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 6,168,221 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $418,390,000 after acquiring an additional 46,434 shares during the period. Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its position in shares of Spire by 29.0% in the fourth quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 1,022,870 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $69,381,000 after buying an additional 229,662 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its stake in shares of Spire by 1.6% in the fourth quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,002,938 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $68,028,000 after buying an additional 15,835 shares in the last quarter. Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. acquired a new stake in shares of Spire in the first quarter valued at about $69,889,000. Finally, Northern Trust Corp raised its holdings in shares of Spire by 13.0% during the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 845,612 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $57,358,000 after buying an additional 97,573 shares during the period. 87.36% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Spire Stock Up 0.2%

NYSE:SR opened at $75.77 on Wednesday. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $73.82 and a 200 day simple moving average of $73.86. Spire Inc. has a one year low of $61.56 and a one year high of $79.81. The company has a market capitalization of $4.47 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.66, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.57 and a beta of 0.62. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.03, a quick ratio of 0.34 and a current ratio of 0.43.

Spire (NYSE:SR) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 30th. The utilities provider reported $3.60 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.70 by ($0.10). The firm had revenue of $1.05 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.15 billion. Spire had a net margin of 10.22% and a return on equity of 8.49%. Spire’s revenue was down 6.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $3.45 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts predict that Spire Inc. will post 4.5 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Spire Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, July 2nd. Shareholders of record on Friday, April 11th were issued a dividend of $0.785 per share. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, June 11th. This represents a $3.14 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.14%. Spire’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 77.34%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms have weighed in on SR. Stifel Nicolaus set a $81.00 price objective on shares of Spire and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Spire from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, May 9th. Morgan Stanley reiterated an “underperform” rating on shares of Spire in a report on Wednesday, June 18th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price objective on shares of Spire from $85.00 to $83.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, May 28th. Finally, Mizuho boosted their price target on Spire from $76.00 to $82.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 19th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating, three have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Spire has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $78.60.

Spire 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.