Deutsche Bank AG Buys 15,769 Shares of Spire Inc. (NYSE:SR)

Deutsche Bank AG increased its stake in shares of Spire Inc. (NYSE:SR) by 21.4% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 89,355 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 15,769 shares during the period. Deutsche Bank AG owned about 0.15% of Spire worth $6,061,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in shares of Spire by 0.8% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 6,168,221 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $418,390,000 after purchasing an additional 46,434 shares during the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP grew its stake in shares of Spire by 29.0% in the fourth quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 1,022,870 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $69,381,000 after buying an additional 229,662 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its holdings in Spire by 1.6% during the fourth quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,002,938 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $68,028,000 after buying an additional 15,835 shares during the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp increased its holdings in Spire by 13.0% during the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 845,612 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $57,358,000 after buying an additional 97,573 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its position in Spire by 3.6% during the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 834,647 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $56,614,000 after acquiring an additional 28,715 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 87.36% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

SR has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Mizuho lifted their price objective on shares of Spire from $76.00 to $82.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 19th. StockNews.com upgraded Spire from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, May 9th. LADENBURG THALM/SH SH upgraded Spire to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, May 9th. Guggenheim raised their price objective on Spire from $67.00 to $72.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 1st. Finally, Morgan Stanley boosted their target price on Spire from $75.00 to $78.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, March 20th. Seven 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’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $77.40.

Spire Price Performance

Shares of NYSE SR opened at $73.26 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $4.32 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.74, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.82 and a beta of 0.65. The business’s 50 day moving average is $76.05 and its 200-day moving average is $72.15. The company has a current ratio of 0.50, a quick ratio of 0.37 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.21. Spire Inc. has a 1-year low of $57.77 and a 1-year high of $79.81.

Spire (NYSE:SR) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 30th. The utilities provider reported $3.60 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.70 by ($0.10). Spire had a net margin of 9.70% and a return on equity of 7.88%. The firm had revenue of $1.05 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.15 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $3.45 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was down 6.8% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts predict that Spire Inc. will post 4.5 earnings per share for the current year.

Spire Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, July 2nd. Shareholders of record on Friday, April 11th will be given a dividend of $0.785 per share. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, June 11th. This represents a $3.14 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.29%. Spire’s payout ratio is presently 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.