Spire Target of Unusually Large Options Trading (NYSE:SR)

Spire Inc. (NYSE:SR) was the target of unusually large options trading on Tuesday. Stock traders bought 4,995 call options on the stock. This is an increase of 41,525% compared to the typical daily volume of 12 call options.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of SR. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in Spire by 0.3% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 6,430,368 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $531,791,000 after acquiring an additional 19,326 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp increased 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 last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its position in Spire by 3.1% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,579,856 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $130,672,000 after acquiring an additional 47,106 shares during the last quarter. Captrust Financial Advisors increased its position in Spire by 1.7% during the fourth quarter. Captrust Financial Advisors now owns 1,240,395 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $102,581,000 after acquiring an additional 20,224 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Adage Capital Partners GP L.L.C. increased its position in Spire by 70.0% during the fourth quarter. Adage Capital Partners GP L.L.C. now owns 1,123,220 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $92,890,000 after acquiring an additional 462,500 shares during the last quarter. 87.36% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Spire Trading Up 1.5%

Shares of NYSE:SR opened at $93.67 on Wednesday. The company has a market cap of $5.54 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.36, a PEG ratio of 1.50 and a beta of 0.60. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.39, a current ratio of 0.61 and a quick ratio of 0.45. Spire has a 1 year low of $69.94 and a 1 year high of $94.46. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $89.90 and its 200-day moving average price is $86.31.

Spire (NYSE:SR) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 3rd. The utilities provider reported $1.77 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.62 by $0.15. The firm had revenue of $762.20 million for 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 company’s quarterly revenue was up 13.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior 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. Sell-side analysts expect that Spire will post 4.5 earnings per share for the current year.

Spire Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, April 2nd. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, March 11th were issued a dividend of $0.825 per share. This represents a $3.30 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.5%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, March 11th. Spire’s dividend payout ratio is presently 71.74%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

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

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.