Spire Inc. $SR Shares Bought by Alps Advisors Inc.

Alps Advisors Inc. lifted its position in shares of Spire Inc. (NYSE:SR) by 33.1% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 23,491 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after buying an additional 5,839 shares during the period. Alps Advisors Inc.’s holdings in Spire were worth $1,915,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. State Street Corp grew its position in Spire by 1.9% during the second quarter. State Street Corp now owns 3,351,641 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $247,162,000 after acquiring an additional 61,851 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Spire by 1.5% in the 2nd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,512,167 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $110,386,000 after purchasing an additional 22,296 shares in the last quarter. Captrust Financial Advisors grew its holdings in shares of Spire by 7.7% during the 2nd quarter. Captrust Financial Advisors now owns 1,135,167 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $82,856,000 after purchasing an additional 80,929 shares during the period. Duff & Phelps Investment Management Co. increased its position in Spire by 32.8% during the 2nd quarter. Duff & Phelps Investment Management Co. now owns 1,030,625 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $75,225,000 after purchasing an additional 254,285 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. raised its holdings in Spire by 3.0% in the third quarter. Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. now owns 1,003,262 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $81,786,000 after buying an additional 29,135 shares during the period. 87.36% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Spire Stock Performance

Spire stock opened at $86.68 on Wednesday. Spire Inc. has a 12-month low of $69.94 and a 12-month high of $91.11. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.39, a current ratio of 0.61 and a quick ratio of 0.45. The company has a market capitalization of $5.12 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.84, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.35 and a beta of 0.67. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $83.44 and its 200 day moving average price is $82.02.

Spire (NYSE:SR) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, February 3rd. The utilities provider reported $1.77 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.62 by $0.15. Spire had a return on equity of 9.43% and a net margin of 10.95%.The company had revenue of $762.20 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $785.54 million. During the same period last year, the firm earned $1.34 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up 13.9% on a year-over-year basis. Spire has set its FY 2027 guidance at 5.650-5.850 EPS and its FY 2026 guidance at 5.250-5.450 EPS. On average, research analysts forecast that Spire Inc. will post 4.5 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Spire Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, April 2nd. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, March 11th will be issued a dividend of $0.825 per share. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, March 11th. This represents a $3.30 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.8%. Spire’s payout ratio is currently 71.74%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have issued reports on SR shares. Jefferies Financial Group reiterated a “buy” rating and set a $99.00 price objective on shares of Spire in a research note on Wednesday, January 21st. Morgan Stanley restated an “overweight” rating and set a $93.00 target price on shares of Spire in a report on Wednesday, January 21st. Bank of America upgraded Spire from an “underperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and increased their price target for the company from $76.00 to $89.00 in a report on Wednesday, October 29th. Mizuho raised their price objective on Spire from $93.00 to $96.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 20th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus upped their target price on Spire from $81.00 to $87.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, January 28th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, six have given a Buy rating and four have issued a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Spire currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $89.36.

About Spire

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.