Arizona State Retirement System Sells 181 Shares of Spire Inc. (NYSE:SR)

Arizona State Retirement System cut its holdings in Spire Inc. (NYSE:SR) by 1.1% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 16,580 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 181 shares during the quarter. Arizona State Retirement System’s holdings in Spire were worth $1,297,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Lee Danner & Bass Inc. purchased a new position in Spire during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $32,000. GAMMA Investing LLC increased its position in shares of Spire by 66.0% in the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 727 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $57,000 after buying an additional 289 shares in the last quarter. State of Wyoming acquired a new stake in shares of Spire in the fourth quarter worth approximately $52,000. Golden State Wealth Management LLC boosted its stake 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 worth $63,000 after acquiring an additional 409 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Physician Wealth Advisors Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Spire in the fourth quarter worth approximately $68,000. 87.36% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have weighed in on the company. Stifel Nicolaus set a $81.00 price objective on Spire and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on Spire from $75.00 to $82.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Wall Street Zen upgraded Spire from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, May 9th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price target on Spire from $85.00 to $83.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, May 28th. Finally, Guggenheim upped their price objective on Spire from $67.00 to $72.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 1st. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating, three have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $78.60.

Spire Stock Performance

Shares of SR stock opened at $75.31 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $4.44 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.55, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.56 and a beta of 0.62. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $73.83 and a 200-day simple moving average of $73.98. Spire Inc. has a 12-month low of $61.56 and a 12-month high of $79.81. The company has a current ratio of 0.43, a quick ratio of 0.34 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.03.

Spire (NYSE:SR) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 30th. The utilities provider reported $3.60 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $3.70 by ($0.10). The firm had revenue of $1.05 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.15 billion. Spire had a net margin of 10.22% and a return on equity of 8.49%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 6.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $3.45 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts forecast that Spire Inc. will post 4.5 EPS for the current year.

Spire Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, July 2nd. Stockholders of record on Friday, April 11th were given a $0.785 dividend. This represents a $3.14 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.17%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, June 11th. Spire’s dividend payout ratio is currently 77.34%.

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.