Arizona State Retirement System Sells 181 Shares of Spire Inc. (NYSE:SR)

Arizona State Retirement System trimmed its holdings in shares of Spire Inc. (NYSE:SR) by 1.1% during the first quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 16,580 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 181 shares during the quarter. Arizona State Retirement System’s holdings in Spire were worth $1,297,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in SR. Lee Danner & Bass Inc. acquired a new position in Spire during the fourth quarter worth $32,000. State of Wyoming bought a new position in Spire during the fourth quarter valued at about $52,000. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its position in Spire by 66.0% during the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 727 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $57,000 after purchasing an additional 289 shares during the period. Golden State Wealth Management LLC boosted its position in Spire by 103.8% during the first quarter. Golden State Wealth Management LLC now owns 803 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $63,000 after purchasing an additional 409 shares during the period. Finally, Physician Wealth Advisors Inc. bought a new position in Spire during the fourth quarter worth about $68,000. 87.36% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Spire Trading Down 0.1%

SR stock opened at $75.31 on Friday. Spire Inc. has a 1-year low of $61.56 and a 1-year high of $79.81. 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 has a market capitalization of $4.44 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.55, a PEG ratio of 2.56 and a beta of 0.62. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $73.83 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $73.98.

Spire (NYSE:SR) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 30th. The utilities provider reported $3.60 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $3.70 by ($0.10). The firm had revenue of $1.05 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.15 billion. Spire had a return on equity of 8.49% and a net margin of 10.22%. The firm’s revenue was down 6.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company earned $3.45 earnings per share. Research analysts anticipate that Spire Inc. will post 4.5 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Spire Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, July 2nd. Investors of record on Friday, April 11th were issued a dividend of $0.785 per share. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, June 11th. This represents a $3.14 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.17%. Spire’s payout ratio is presently 77.34%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages recently weighed in on SR. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their target price on shares of Spire from $85.00 to $83.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, May 28th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on shares of Spire from $75.00 to $82.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, May 1st. LADENBURG THALM/SH SH upgraded shares of Spire to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday, May 9th. Guggenheim lifted their price target on Spire from $67.00 to $72.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 1st. Finally, Morgan Stanley reaffirmed an “underperform” rating on shares of Spire in a research report on Wednesday, June 18th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating, three have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $78.60.

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.