Spire Inc. (NYSE:SR) Short Interest Down 14.6% in March

Spire Inc. (NYSE:SR) saw a large decrease in short interest in March. As of March 31st, there was short interest totalling 1,340,000 shares, a decrease of 14.6% from the March 15th total of 1,570,000 shares. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 441,300 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 3.0 days. Currently, 2.4% of the company’s stock are sold short.

Spire Stock Down 0.1 %

Spire stock opened at $77.48 on Monday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.37, a current ratio of 0.50 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.21. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $76.02 and its 200 day moving average price is $70.74. Spire has a 52 week low of $57.77 and a 52 week high of $79.81. The firm has a market cap of $4.52 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.76, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.82 and a beta of 0.56.

Spire (NYSE:SR) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 5th. The utilities provider reported $1.34 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.42 by ($0.08). Spire had a return on equity of 7.88% and a net margin of 9.70%. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Spire will post 4.5 earnings per share for the current year.

Spire Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, April 2nd. Investors of record on Tuesday, March 11th were given a dividend of $0.785 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, March 11th. This represents a $3.14 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.05%. Spire’s payout ratio is presently 76.03%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Spire

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Barclays PLC boosted its stake in Spire by 127.8% during the third quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 109,372 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $7,360,000 after buying an additional 61,357 shares during the period. Sanctuary Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Spire in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $575,000. Oddo BHF Asset Management Sas acquired a new position in shares of Spire in the third quarter worth $994,000. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its stake in shares of Spire by 18.1% during the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 289,730 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $19,496,000 after buying an additional 44,506 shares during the period. Finally, GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its position in shares of Spire by 87.2% during the 4th 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. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 87.36% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

SR has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Guggenheim boosted their price target on Spire from $67.00 to $72.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 1st. LADENBURG THALM/SH SH upgraded shares of Spire to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday, March 17th. StockNews.com raised Spire from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 3rd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised Spire from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and lifted their price target for the stock from $72.00 to $85.00 in a research report on Thursday, March 20th. Finally, Mizuho increased their price objective on Spire from $76.00 to $82.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, March 19th. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, three have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $76.70.

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.