Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC Has $456,000 Position in Spire Inc. (NYSE:SR)

Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC boosted its holdings in Spire Inc. (NYSE:SR) by 16.9% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 5,833 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after buying an additional 844 shares during the quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC’s holdings in Spire were worth $456,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors have also recently modified their holdings of SR. Norges Bank bought a new position in Spire during the fourth quarter worth $42,432,000. Zimmer Partners LP bought a new position in Spire during the fourth quarter worth $30,083,000. Wellington Management Group LLP raised its stake 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 buying an additional 229,662 shares during the last quarter. Sourcerock Group LLC bought a new position in Spire during the fourth quarter worth $12,567,000. Finally, Captrust Financial Advisors raised its stake in Spire by 24.0% during the fourth quarter. Captrust Financial Advisors now owns 722,782 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $49,026,000 after buying an additional 139,815 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 87.36% of the company’s stock.

Spire Stock Up 0.9%

SR opened at $74.06 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.03, a current ratio of 0.43 and a quick ratio of 0.34. The company’s 50-day moving average is $74.10 and its 200 day moving average is $73.41. Spire Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $58.64 and a fifty-two week high of $79.81. The firm has a market capitalization of $4.37 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.24, a PEG ratio of 2.52 and a beta of 0.62.

Spire (NYSE:SR) last announced its quarterly earnings data 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 company had revenue of $1.05 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.15 billion. Spire had a return on equity of 8.49% and a net margin of 10.22%. The business’s revenue was down 6.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $3.45 EPS. Research analysts expect that Spire Inc. will post 4.5 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Spire Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, July 2nd. Shareholders of record on Friday, April 11th were given a $0.785 dividend. This represents a $3.14 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.24%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, June 11th. Spire’s dividend payout ratio is 77.34%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have commented on SR. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on shares of Spire from $75.00 to $82.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Spire from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, May 9th. Guggenheim raised their price target on shares of Spire from $67.00 to $72.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 1st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price objective on shares of Spire from $85.00 to $83.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, May 28th. Finally, LADENBURG THALM/SH SH upgraded shares of Spire to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday, May 9th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating, three have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price 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.