Gamco Investors INC. ET AL Acquires 200 Shares of Spire Inc. (NYSE:SR)

Gamco Investors INC. ET AL grew its holdings in shares of Spire Inc. (NYSE:SR) by 2.3% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 9,050 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 200 shares during the quarter. Gamco Investors INC. ET AL’s holdings in Spire were worth $614,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the business. Golden State Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Spire in the 4th quarter worth $27,000. GAMMA Investing LLC increased its stake in Spire by 87.2% in the fourth quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 438 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $30,000 after acquiring an additional 204 shares during the last quarter. Lee Danner & Bass Inc. purchased a new stake in Spire during the fourth quarter valued at about $32,000. R Squared Ltd bought a new stake in Spire during the fourth quarter worth about $37,000. Finally, Capital Advisors Ltd. LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Spire by 431.4% in the 4th quarter. Capital Advisors Ltd. LLC now owns 627 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $43,000 after purchasing an additional 509 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 87.36% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts recently weighed in on the company. LADENBURG THALM/SH SH upgraded Spire to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Monday, March 17th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised shares of Spire from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and increased their target price for the company from $72.00 to $85.00 in a report on Thursday, March 20th. Guggenheim upped their price target on shares of Spire from $67.00 to $72.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 1st. Morgan Stanley boosted their target price on Spire from $75.00 to $78.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 20th. Finally, StockNews.com raised Spire from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, April 3rd. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, three have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $76.70.

Spire Trading Down 0.1 %

NYSE:SR opened at $77.48 on Friday. Spire Inc. has a 12 month low of $57.77 and a 12 month high of $79.81. The company has a current ratio of 0.50, a quick ratio of 0.37 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.21. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $76.02 and a 200-day moving average price of $70.70. The stock has a market cap of $4.52 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.76, a P/E/G ratio of 2.82 and a beta of 0.56.

Spire (NYSE:SR) last posted its quarterly earnings data 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%. Equities analysts predict that Spire Inc. will post 4.5 EPS for the current year.

Spire Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, April 2nd. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, March 11th were issued a dividend of $0.785 per share. This represents a $3.14 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.05%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, March 11th. Spire’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) 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.