Cetera Investment Advisers Raises Position in Spire Inc. (NYSE:SR)

Cetera Investment Advisers grew its holdings in shares of Spire Inc. (NYSE:SR) by 26.8% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 10,339 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 2,188 shares during the period. Cetera Investment Advisers’ holdings in Spire were worth $809,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in SR. State of Wyoming purchased a new position in Spire in the 4th quarter worth $52,000. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its holdings in Spire by 66.0% in the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 727 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $57,000 after buying an additional 289 shares during the last quarter. Golden State Wealth Management LLC boosted its holdings in Spire by 103.8% in the 1st quarter. Golden State Wealth Management LLC now owns 803 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $63,000 after buying an additional 409 shares during the last quarter. Signaturefd LLC boosted its holdings in Spire by 21.7% in the 1st quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 914 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $72,000 after buying an additional 163 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Blue Trust Inc. boosted its holdings in Spire by 20.5% in the 1st quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 1,305 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $102,000 after buying an additional 222 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 87.36% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have recently weighed in on SR. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on Spire from $75.00 to $82.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Stifel Nicolaus set a $81.00 target price on Spire and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 15th. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Spire from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, May 9th. LADENBURG THALM/SH SH upgraded shares of Spire to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Friday, May 9th. Finally, Morgan Stanley reiterated an “underperform” rating on shares of Spire in a research note on Wednesday, June 18th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating, three have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Spire presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $78.60.

Spire Stock Performance

NYSE SR opened at $77.60 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.08, a current ratio of 0.37 and a quick ratio of 0.27. Spire Inc. has a 1 year low of $61.56 and a 1 year high of $79.81. The company has a market capitalization of $4.58 billion, a PE ratio of 16.76, a P/E/G ratio of 2.40 and a beta of 0.66. The company has a fifty day moving average of $74.51 and a two-hundred day moving average of $74.91.

Spire (NYSE:SR) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, August 5th. The utilities provider reported $0.01 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.09) by $0.10. Spire had a net margin of 11.56% and a return on equity of 8.66%. The business had revenue of $421.90 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $417.27 million. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned ($0.14) earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 1.9% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts expect that Spire Inc. will post 4.5 earnings per share for the current year.

Spire Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, October 2nd. Investors of record on Thursday, September 11th will be issued a dividend of $0.785 per share. This represents a $3.14 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.0%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, September 11th. Spire’s dividend payout ratio is currently 67.82%.

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.