Cetera Investment Advisers Purchases 655 Shares of Spire Inc. (NYSE:SR)

Cetera Investment Advisers lifted its stake in shares of Spire Inc. (NYSE:SR) by 8.7% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 8,151 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 655 shares during the period. Cetera Investment Advisers’ holdings in Spire were worth $553,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

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

Spire Stock Performance

Shares of Spire stock opened at $74.70 on Tuesday. The stock has a market cap of $4.41 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.09, a PEG ratio of 2.82 and a beta of 0.65. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $75.87 and its 200 day moving average is $72.67. Spire Inc. has a 1 year low of $57.77 and a 1 year high of $79.81. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.21, a current ratio of 0.50 and a quick ratio of 0.37.

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

Spire Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, July 2nd. Shareholders of record on Friday, April 11th will be paid a $0.785 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, June 11th. This represents a $3.14 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.20%. Spire’s payout ratio is 77.34%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have recently commented on SR shares. Morgan Stanley raised their price objective on shares of Spire from $75.00 to $78.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 20th. Mizuho lifted their price target on shares of Spire from $76.00 to $82.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 19th. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Spire from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, May 9th. Guggenheim lifted their target price on shares of Spire from $67.00 to $72.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 1st. Finally, LADENBURG THALM/SH SH upgraded shares of Spire to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday, May 9th. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, three have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $77.40.

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.