Ontario Teachers Pension Plan Board Grows Holdings in Spire Inc. (NYSE:SR)

Ontario Teachers Pension Plan Board raised its position in shares of Spire Inc. (NYSE:SR) by 13.0% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 67,768 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 7,822 shares during the quarter. Ontario Teachers Pension Plan Board’s holdings in Spire were worth $4,597,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Golden State Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Spire during the 4th quarter valued at $27,000. GAMMA Investing LLC raised its holdings in Spire by 87.2% during the fourth quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 438 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $30,000 after acquiring an additional 204 shares during the period. Lee Danner & Bass Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Spire in the fourth quarter valued at about $32,000. R Squared Ltd bought a new position in shares of Spire in the fourth quarter worth about $37,000. Finally, Capital Advisors Ltd. LLC grew its position in shares of Spire by 431.4% during the fourth quarter. Capital Advisors Ltd. LLC now owns 627 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $43,000 after purchasing an additional 509 shares in the last quarter. 87.36% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts recently commented on the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised Spire from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and boosted their price target for the stock from $72.00 to $85.00 in a report on Thursday, March 20th. Morgan Stanley upped their target price on shares of Spire from $75.00 to $78.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 20th. 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 price target on the stock. Guggenheim increased their price objective on shares of Spire from $67.00 to $72.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 1st. Finally, LADENBURG THALM/SH SH raised Spire to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Monday, March 17th. Eight analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, three have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $75.64.

Spire Price Performance

NYSE:SR opened at $76.22 on Tuesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $4.45 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.46, a PEG ratio of 2.82 and a beta of 0.56. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.21, a current ratio of 0.50 and a quick ratio of 0.37. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $75.61 and a 200-day simple moving average of $70.43. Spire Inc. has a 1 year low of $57.27 and a 1 year high of $79.81.

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%. Equities analysts forecast that Spire Inc. will post 4.5 EPS for the current year.

Spire Cuts Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, April 2nd. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, March 11th were paid a $0.785 dividend. This represents a $3.14 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.12%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, March 11th. Spire’s payout ratio 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.