Wellington Management Group LLP Raises Position in Spire Inc. (NYSE:SR)

Wellington Management Group LLP grew its position in shares of Spire Inc. (NYSE:SR) by 29.0% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 1,022,870 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after buying an additional 229,662 shares during the quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP owned 1.75% of Spire worth $69,381,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Blair William & Co. IL lifted its position in Spire by 2.6% in the 4th quarter. Blair William & Co. IL now owns 6,027 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $409,000 after acquiring an additional 152 shares in the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC raised its stake in shares of Spire by 87.2% in the fourth quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 438 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $30,000 after purchasing an additional 204 shares during the last quarter. Parkside Financial Bank & Trust lifted its holdings in shares of Spire by 11.7% during the fourth quarter. Parkside Financial Bank & Trust now owns 2,308 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $157,000 after purchasing an additional 241 shares in the last quarter. Chicago Partners Investment Group LLC boosted its position in shares of Spire by 8.6% during the fourth quarter. Chicago Partners Investment Group LLC now owns 3,406 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $230,000 after buying an additional 271 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Blue Trust Inc. increased its holdings in Spire by 26.5% in the 4th quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 1,337 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $90,000 after buying an additional 280 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 87.36% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

SR has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Janney Montgomery Scott started coverage on shares of Spire in a report on Tuesday, December 17th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $73.00 price target on the stock. Mizuho lifted their target price on shares of Spire from $76.00 to $82.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 19th. StockNews.com raised Spire from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday. Guggenheim raised their price target on Spire from $67.00 to $72.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. upgraded Spire from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and upped their price objective for the company from $72.00 to $85.00 in a research report on Thursday, March 20th. Eight research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, three have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Spire presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $75.64.

Spire Stock Down 4.0 %

SR stock opened at $75.89 on Friday. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $75.04 and its 200-day moving average price is $69.98. The stock has a market cap of $4.43 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.37, a PEG ratio of 2.82 and a beta of 0.53. The company has a quick ratio of 0.37, a current ratio of 0.50 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.21. Spire Inc. has a twelve month low of $57.27 and a twelve month high of $79.81.

Spire (NYSE:SR) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 5th. The utilities provider reported $1.34 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.42 by ($0.08). Spire had a net margin of 9.70% and a return on equity of 7.88%. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Spire Inc. will post 4.5 EPS for the current year.

Spire Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, April 2nd. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, March 11th were issued a dividend of $0.785 per share. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, March 11th. This represents a $3.14 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.14%. Spire’s dividend payout ratio is presently 76.03%.

About Spire

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.