Spire Inc. $SR Shares Purchased by Hennessy Advisors Inc.

Hennessy Advisors Inc. lifted its holdings in Spire Inc. (NYSE:SR) by 2.5% in the 2nd quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 62,241 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,500 shares during the quarter. Hennessy Advisors Inc.’s holdings in Spire were worth $4,543,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Quarry LP acquired a new stake in Spire in the first quarter valued at approximately $50,000. Bayforest Capital Ltd lifted its position in shares of Spire by 2,648.0% during the 1st quarter. Bayforest Capital Ltd now owns 687 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $54,000 after buying an additional 662 shares in the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC grew its stake in Spire by 66.0% in the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 727 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $57,000 after acquiring an additional 289 shares during the period. Parallel Advisors LLC increased its holdings in Spire by 75.2% in the 2nd quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC now owns 785 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $57,000 after acquiring an additional 337 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Golden State Wealth Management LLC increased its holdings in Spire by 103.8% in the 1st quarter. Golden State Wealth Management LLC now owns 803 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $63,000 after acquiring an additional 409 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 87.36% of the company’s stock.

Spire Stock Performance

SR opened at $82.28 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $4.86 billion, a PE ratio of 17.77, a PEG ratio of 2.39 and a beta of 0.69. Spire Inc. has a twelve month low of $61.56 and a twelve month high of $83.10. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $76.71 and its 200 day moving average price is $75.68. The company has a current ratio of 0.37, a quick ratio of 0.27 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.08.

Spire (NYSE:SR) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, August 5th. The utilities provider reported $0.01 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.09) by $0.10. Spire had a net margin of 11.56% and a return on equity of 8.66%. The company had revenue of $421.90 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $417.27 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned ($0.14) EPS. Spire’s quarterly revenue was up 1.9% on a year-over-year basis. Spire has set its FY 2025 guidance at 4.400-4.60 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Spire Inc. will post 4.5 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Spire Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, October 2nd. Investors of record on Thursday, September 11th were given a dividend of $0.785 per share. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, September 11th. This represents a $3.14 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.8%. Spire’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 67.82%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

SR has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Bank of America reiterated an “underperform” rating and issued a $76.00 target price (down previously from $81.00) on shares of Spire in a research report on Friday, August 15th. Stifel Nicolaus set a $81.00 price target on shares of Spire and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 15th. Morgan Stanley lowered their price objective on Spire from $81.00 to $76.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, September 25th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reissued a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of Spire in a report on Saturday, September 27th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, four have given a Buy rating, five have given a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $78.80.

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.