Norges Bank Buys New Shares in Spire Inc. (NYSE:SR)

Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Spire Inc. (NYSE:SR) in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor purchased 625,560 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $42,432,000. Norges Bank owned about 1.07% of Spire as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of SR. Blair William & Co. IL increased its stake in shares of Spire by 2.6% during the fourth quarter. Blair William & Co. IL now owns 6,027 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $409,000 after purchasing an additional 152 shares during the period. GAMMA Investing LLC increased its position in Spire by 87.2% during the 4th quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 438 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $30,000 after buying an additional 204 shares during the period. Parkside Financial Bank & Trust lifted its holdings in shares of Spire by 11.7% during the fourth quarter. Parkside Financial Bank & Trust now owns 2,308 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $157,000 after buying an additional 241 shares in the last quarter. Chicago Partners Investment Group LLC boosted its position in shares of Spire by 8.6% in the fourth quarter. Chicago Partners Investment Group LLC now owns 3,406 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $230,000 after acquiring an additional 271 shares during the period. Finally, Blue Trust Inc. grew its stake in shares of Spire by 26.5% in the fourth quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 1,337 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $90,000 after acquiring an additional 280 shares in the last quarter. 87.36% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts have recently commented on SR shares. Mizuho boosted their target price on shares of Spire from $76.00 to $82.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 19th. LADENBURG THALM/SH SH upgraded Spire to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday, March 17th. Guggenheim raised their price objective on Spire from $67.00 to $72.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday. Morgan Stanley boosted their target price on Spire from $75.00 to $78.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 20th. Finally, Bank of America began coverage on shares of Spire in a research note on Friday, December 13th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $70.00 price target on the stock. Eight equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, three have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $75.64.

Spire Price Performance

SR opened at $75.89 on Friday. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $75.04 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $69.98. The company has a market capitalization of $4.43 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.37, a P/E/G ratio of 2.82 and a beta of 0.53. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.21, a current ratio of 0.50 and a quick ratio of 0.37. Spire Inc. has a 1 year low of $57.27 and a 1 year high of $79.81.

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

Spire Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, April 2nd. Investors of record on Tuesday, March 11th were issued a dividend of $0.785 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, March 11th. This represents a $3.14 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.14%. Spire’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 76.03%.

Spire 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.