Inspire Investing LLC Buys 836 Shares of Spire Inc. $SR

Inspire Investing LLC increased its stake in Spire Inc. (NYSE:SR) by 18.2% during the second quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 5,440 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 836 shares during the quarter. Inspire Investing LLC’s holdings in Spire were worth $397,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of SR. Nuveen LLC bought a new stake in Spire during the 1st quarter valued at $73,254,000. Adage Capital Partners GP L.L.C. bought a new stake in Spire during the 1st quarter valued at $30,322,000. Millennium Management LLC raised its holdings in Spire by 110.4% during the 1st quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 522,323 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $40,872,000 after acquiring an additional 274,124 shares during the period. Natixis Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Spire during the 1st quarter valued at $12,354,000. Finally, Jane Street Group LLC bought a new stake in Spire during the 1st quarter valued at $9,636,000. Institutional investors own 87.36% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

SR has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Morgan Stanley decreased their price target on shares of Spire from $81.00 to $76.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, September 25th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of Spire in a report on Wednesday, October 8th. Bank of America reaffirmed an “underperform” rating and issued a $76.00 price target (down previously from $81.00) on shares of Spire in a report on Friday, August 15th. UBS Group upped their price target on shares of Spire from $80.00 to $95.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus set a $81.00 price target on shares of Spire and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 15th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, four have given a Buy rating, five have given a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Spire has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $81.36.

Spire Stock Performance

NYSE SR opened at $82.81 on Tuesday. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $77.68 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $75.90. 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 Inc. has a 12-month low of $61.56 and a 12-month high of $83.95. The firm has a market cap of $4.89 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.89, a PEG ratio of 2.39 and a beta of 0.69.

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

Spire Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, October 2nd. Investors of record on Thursday, September 11th were paid a $0.785 dividend. This represents a $3.14 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.8%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, September 11th. Spire’s dividend payout ratio is presently 67.82%.

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.