Knights of Columbus Asset Advisors LLC Acquires Shares of 29,700 Spire Inc. $SR

Knights of Columbus Asset Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Spire Inc. (NYSE:SR) in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund acquired 29,700 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $2,168,000.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Quarry LP acquired a new stake in Spire during the 1st quarter valued at approximately $50,000. Bayforest Capital Ltd lifted its stake in Spire by 2,648.0% during the 1st quarter. Bayforest Capital Ltd now owns 687 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $54,000 after acquiring an additional 662 shares during the period. GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its stake in Spire by 66.0% during the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 727 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $57,000 after acquiring an additional 289 shares during the period. Parallel Advisors LLC lifted its stake in Spire by 75.2% during the 2nd quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC now owns 785 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $57,000 after acquiring an additional 337 shares during the period. Finally, Golden State Wealth Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Spire by 103.8% in the 1st quarter. Golden State Wealth Management LLC now owns 803 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $63,000 after purchasing an additional 409 shares during the period. 87.36% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts recently issued reports on SR shares. Bank of America reiterated an “underperform” rating and issued a $76.00 target price (down from $81.00) on shares of Spire in a research note on Friday, August 15th. Morgan Stanley decreased their target price on shares of Spire from $81.00 to $76.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, September 25th. Jefferies Financial Group set a $92.00 target price on shares of Spire and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of Spire in a research note on Saturday, September 27th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus set a $81.00 target price on shares of Spire and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 15th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, five have given a Buy rating, five have assigned a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $80.00.

Spire Price Performance

Spire stock opened at $81.37 on Tuesday. Spire Inc. has a 52-week low of $61.56 and a 52-week high of $83.15. The firm has a market capitalization of $4.80 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.57, a PEG ratio of 2.39 and a beta of 0.69. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $76.83 and a 200-day simple moving average of $75.70. The company has a quick ratio of 0.27, a current ratio of 0.37 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.08.

Spire (NYSE:SR) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, August 5th. The utilities provider reported $0.01 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.09) by $0.10. Spire had a net margin of 11.56% and a return on equity of 8.66%. The business had revenue of $421.90 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $417.27 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned ($0.14) earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 1.9% compared to the same quarter last year. Spire has set its FY 2025 guidance at 4.400-4.60 EPS. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Spire Inc. will post 4.5 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Spire Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, October 2nd. Stockholders of record on Thursday, September 11th were issued a dividend of $0.785 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, September 11th. This represents a $3.14 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.9%. Spire’s dividend payout ratio is presently 67.82%.

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.