SG Americas Securities LLC Grows Stock Holdings in Spire Inc. $SR

SG Americas Securities LLC increased its position in Spire Inc. (NYSE:SR) by 146.8% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 12,700 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after buying an additional 7,554 shares during the period. SG Americas Securities LLC’s holdings in Spire were worth $1,035,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the business. Ameritas Investment Partners Inc. lifted its position in shares of Spire by 0.8% in the second quarter. Ameritas Investment Partners Inc. now owns 17,461 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,274,000 after acquiring an additional 146 shares in the last quarter. Inspire Investing LLC lifted its holdings in Spire by 2.8% in the 3rd quarter. Inspire Investing LLC now owns 5,590 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $456,000 after purchasing an additional 150 shares in the last quarter. State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D boosted its stake in Spire by 0.6% in the 2nd quarter. State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D now owns 25,636 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,871,000 after purchasing an additional 152 shares during the period. Smith Moore & CO. grew its holdings in Spire by 5.2% during the 2nd quarter. Smith Moore & CO. now owns 4,470 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $326,000 after buying an additional 222 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Blue Trust Inc. grew its holdings in Spire by 28.1% during the 3rd quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 1,164 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $95,000 after buying an additional 255 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 87.36% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts have recently commented on SR shares. Bank of America raised shares of Spire from an “underperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and boosted their target price for the stock from $76.00 to $89.00 in a report on Wednesday, October 29th. UBS Group boosted their price target on shares of Spire from $95.00 to $100.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 17th. Morgan Stanley set a $97.00 price objective on shares of Spire in a report on Thursday, November 20th. BTIG Research raised Spire to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 22nd. Finally, Mizuho boosted their target price on Spire from $93.00 to $96.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 20th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, three have assigned a Buy rating and six have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $88.55.

Spire Stock Up 0.7%

Shares of NYSE:SR opened at $83.56 on Monday. The company has a market cap of $4.94 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.99, a PEG ratio of 1.50 and a beta of 0.67. Spire Inc. has a 12 month low of $68.48 and a 12 month high of $91.11. The company has a current ratio of 0.32, a quick ratio of 0.21 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.07. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $84.38 and a 200 day moving average price of $80.91.

Spire (NYSE:SR) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Friday, November 14th. The utilities provider reported ($0.47) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.46) by ($0.01). The company had revenue of $334.10 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $439.56 million. Spire had a net margin of 10.96% and a return on equity of 8.78%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 13.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company earned ($0.54) earnings per share. Spire has set its FY 2027 guidance at 5.650-5.850 EPS and its FY 2026 guidance at 5.250-5.450 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Spire Inc. will post 4.5 earnings per share for the current year.

Spire Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, January 5th. Investors of record on Thursday, December 11th were paid a dividend of $0.825 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, December 11th. This represents a $3.30 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.9%. This is a boost from Spire’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.79. Spire’s dividend payout ratio is presently 75.00%.

Spire Profile

Spire Inc (NYSE: SR), formerly known as The Laclede Group, is a regulated natural gas distribution company headquartered in St. Louis, Missouri. Through its three operating divisions—Spire Missouri, Spire Alabama and Spire Mississippi—the company delivers natural gas to more than 1.7 million residential, commercial and industrial customers. Spire’s service territory spans key markets in the central and southern United States, including metropolitan St. Louis, central Alabama and central Mississippi.

Founded in 1857 as the Laclede Gas Light Company, the business has grown through strategic acquisitions, notably Alabama Gas Corporation in 2013 and Mississippi Gas in 2016.