Nuveen Asset Management LLC Acquires 42,934 Shares of Spire Inc. (NYSE:SR)

Nuveen Asset Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Spire Inc. (NYSE:SR) by 5.4% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 836,521 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after buying an additional 42,934 shares during the period. Nuveen Asset Management LLC’s holdings in Spire were worth $56,741,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the business. Blair William & Co. IL grew its stake in shares of Spire by 2.6% during the fourth quarter. Blair William & Co. IL now owns 6,027 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $409,000 after buying an additional 152 shares during the last quarter. Gamco Investors INC. ET AL grew its stake in shares of Spire by 2.3% during the fourth quarter. Gamco Investors INC. ET AL now owns 9,050 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $614,000 after buying an additional 200 shares during the last quarter. Parkside Financial Bank & Trust grew its stake 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 buying an additional 241 shares during the last quarter. Chicago Partners Investment Group LLC grew its stake 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. grew its stake in shares of Spire by 26.5% during the fourth quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 1,337 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $90,000 after buying an additional 280 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 87.36% of the company’s stock.

Spire Stock Up 0.9%

Shares of NYSE:SR opened at $73.26 on Monday. Spire Inc. has a 52-week low of $57.77 and a 52-week high of $79.81. The stock 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 quick ratio of 0.37, a current ratio of 0.50 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.21.

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

Spire Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, July 2nd. Shareholders of record on Friday, April 11th will be issued 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 yield of 4.29%. Spire’s dividend payout ratio is currently 77.34%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

SR has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. StockNews.com raised Spire from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, May 9th. Mizuho upped their target price on Spire from $76.00 to $82.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 19th. LADENBURG THALM/SH SH raised Spire to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, May 9th. Morgan Stanley increased their price objective on Spire from $75.00 to $78.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 20th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised Spire from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and increased their price objective for the stock from $72.00 to $85.00 in a research note on Thursday, March 20th. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, three have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Spire presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $77.40.

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.