Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. Trims Holdings in Spire Inc. (NYSE:SR)

Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. trimmed its holdings in Spire Inc. (NYSE:SR) by 1.3% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 824,211 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 10,436 shares during the quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. owned approximately 1.40% of Spire worth $64,495,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in SR. Jupiter Asset Management Ltd. bought a new position in shares of Spire during the 1st quarter valued at approximately $9,035,000. Commerce Bank boosted its position in shares of Spire by 14.9% during the 1st quarter. Commerce Bank now owns 25,944 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $2,030,000 after acquiring an additional 3,372 shares during the last quarter. Natixis Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Spire during the 1st quarter valued at approximately $12,354,000. Bayforest Capital Ltd boosted its position in shares of Spire by 2,648.0% during the 1st quarter. Bayforest Capital Ltd now owns 687 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $54,000 after acquiring an additional 662 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Meeder Asset Management Inc. bought a new position in shares of Spire during the 1st quarter valued at approximately $4,383,000. 87.36% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research analysts have recently commented on the company. Wall Street Zen upgraded Spire from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, May 9th. Stifel Nicolaus set a $81.00 price target on Spire and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 15th. LADENBURG THALM/SH SH upgraded Spire to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday, May 9th. Morgan Stanley restated an “underperform” rating on shares of Spire in a research report on Wednesday, June 18th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on Spire from $75.00 to $82.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating, three have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Spire has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $78.60.

Spire Price Performance

SR opened at $77.50 on Friday. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $74.59 and its 200 day moving average price is $74.96. Spire Inc. has a 12-month low of $61.56 and a 12-month high of $79.81. The company has a current ratio of 0.37, a quick ratio of 0.27 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.08. The firm has a market cap of $4.57 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.74, a PEG ratio of 2.43 and a beta of 0.66.

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

Spire Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, October 2nd. Shareholders of record on Thursday, September 11th will be paid a $0.785 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, September 11th. This represents a $3.14 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.1%. Spire’s 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.