45,903 Shares in Spire Inc. $SR Purchased by Phocas Financial Corp.

Phocas Financial Corp. acquired a new position in Spire Inc. (NYSE:SR) in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm acquired 45,903 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $3,796,000. Phocas Financial Corp. owned about 0.08% of Spire at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the business. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC lifted its stake in shares of Spire by 10.0% during the 1st quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC now owns 212,438 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $16,623,000 after acquiring an additional 19,373 shares during the last quarter. Jane Street Group LLC bought a new position in Spire in the 1st quarter valued at $9,636,000. Quadrant Capital Group LLC increased its stake in Spire by 681.1% in the second quarter. Quadrant Capital Group LLC now owns 2,890 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $211,000 after purchasing an additional 2,520 shares during the period. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. increased its stake in Spire by 1,031.5% in the second quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. now owns 611 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $45,000 after purchasing an additional 557 shares during the period. Finally, Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of Spire during the second quarter worth $45,155,000. Institutional investors own 87.36% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on SR. Morgan Stanley reissued an “overweight” rating and set a $100.00 target price on shares of Spire in a research note on Friday, February 20th. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their price objective on shares of Spire from $81.00 to $87.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 28th. UBS Group boosted their price objective on shares of Spire from $95.00 to $100.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 17th. Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of Spire from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 5th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $99.00 target price on shares of Spire in a research report on Wednesday, January 21st. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, six have assigned a Buy rating and three have issued a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $92.78.

Spire Price Performance

SR opened at $92.68 on Monday. Spire Inc. has a 12-month low of $69.94 and a 12-month high of $94.27. The company has a current ratio of 0.61, a quick ratio of 0.45 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.39. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $89.56 and its 200-day simple moving average is $86.08. The company has a market capitalization of $5.48 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.15, a PEG ratio of 1.50 and a beta of 0.60.

Spire (NYSE:SR) last released its quarterly earnings data 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. The firm had revenue of $762.20 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $785.54 million. Spire had a return on equity of 9.43% and a net margin of 10.95%.The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 13.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $1.34 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. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Spire Inc. will post 4.5 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Spire Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, April 2nd. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, March 11th were given a $0.825 dividend. This represents a $3.30 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.6%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, March 11th. Spire’s dividend payout ratio is presently 71.74%.

Spire Company 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.