AQR Capital Management LLC Sells 5,308 Shares of Spire Inc. (NYSE:SR)

AQR Capital Management LLC decreased its position in Spire Inc. (NYSE:SR) by 3.1% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 163,837 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 5,308 shares during the period. AQR Capital Management LLC owned approximately 0.28% of Spire worth $11,087,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Northern Trust Corp boosted its holdings in shares of Spire by 13.0% during the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 845,612 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $57,358,000 after buying an additional 97,573 shares in the last quarter. Aquatic Capital Management LLC bought a new position in Spire during the fourth quarter worth $741,000. Boothbay Fund Management LLC acquired a new stake in Spire in the fourth quarter worth $3,072,000. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD increased its stake in Spire by 12.2% in the fourth quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 42,195 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $2,863,000 after purchasing an additional 4,574 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Susquehanna International Group LLP raised its holdings in shares of Spire by 140.1% during the fourth quarter. Susquehanna International Group LLP now owns 27,988 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,898,000 after purchasing an additional 16,331 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 87.36% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms recently weighed in on SR. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised Spire from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and upped their price target for the stock from $72.00 to $85.00 in a research note on Thursday, March 20th. Guggenheim increased their target price on Spire from $67.00 to $72.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 1st. LADENBURG THALM/SH SH upgraded shares of Spire to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday, March 17th. StockNews.com lowered shares of Spire from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 1st. Finally, Morgan Stanley boosted 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. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating, three have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $77.40.

Spire Price Performance

Spire stock opened at $76.04 on Tuesday. The stock has a market cap of $4.49 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.41, a P/E/G ratio of 2.82 and a beta of 0.65. The company has a quick ratio of 0.37, a current ratio of 0.50 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.21. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $76.55 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $71.68. Spire Inc. has a 52 week low of $57.77 and a 52 week high of $79.81.

Spire (NYSE:SR) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 30th. The utilities provider reported $3.60 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.70 by ($0.10). The business had revenue of $1.05 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.15 billion. Spire had a return on equity of 7.88% and a net margin of 9.70%. The business’s revenue was down 6.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $3.45 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts predict that Spire Inc. will post 4.5 earnings per share for the current year.

Spire Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, July 2nd. Investors of record on Friday, April 11th will be given a dividend of $0.785 per share. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, June 11th. This represents a $3.14 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.13%. Spire’s payout ratio is currently 77.34%.

About Spire

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.