Meiji Yasuda Asset Management Co Ltd. Increases Stake in Spire Inc. (NYSE:SR)

Meiji Yasuda Asset Management Co Ltd. lifted its stake in Spire Inc. (NYSE:SR) by 0.9% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 98,026 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after buying an additional 875 shares during the quarter. Meiji Yasuda Asset Management Co Ltd. owned approximately 0.17% of Spire worth $6,649,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its stake in Spire by 5.5% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,385,452 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $93,244,000 after acquiring an additional 71,798 shares during the last quarter. Cynosure Group LLC purchased a new stake in Spire during the 3rd quarter valued at $4,067,000. Intech Investment Management LLC bought a new stake in Spire in the third quarter worth $790,000. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its stake in Spire by 4.7% during the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 805,932 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $54,231,000 after buying an additional 36,214 shares during the period. Finally, KBC Group NV increased its position in Spire by 48.2% during the fourth quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 2,307 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $156,000 after acquiring an additional 750 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 87.36% of the company’s stock.

Spire Stock Up 0.7 %

NYSE:SR opened at $76.98 on Tuesday. Spire Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $57.27 and a fifty-two week high of $78.83. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $73.51 and its 200-day simple moving average is $69.28. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.21, a quick ratio of 0.37 and a current ratio of 0.50. The stock has a market capitalization of $4.49 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.64, a P/E/G ratio of 2.82 and a beta of 0.53.

Spire (NYSE:SR) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 5th. The utilities provider reported $1.34 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.42 by ($0.08). Spire had a return on equity of 7.88% and a net margin of 9.70%. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Spire Inc. will post 4.5 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Spire Cuts Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 2nd. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, March 11th will be issued a $0.785 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, March 11th. This represents a $3.14 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.08%. Spire’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 76.03%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts have recently issued reports on SR shares. Janney Montgomery Scott initiated coverage on shares of Spire in a report on Tuesday, December 17th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $73.00 target price for the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upgraded Spire from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and boosted their target price for the company from $72.00 to $85.00 in a research report on Thursday, March 20th. StockNews.com upgraded Spire from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 18th. Morgan Stanley boosted their price objective on Spire from $75.00 to $78.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, March 20th. Finally, Mizuho increased their target price on Spire from $76.00 to $82.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 19th. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, three have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $76.00.

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.