Viking Fund Management LLC Purchases Shares of 60,000 Spire Inc. $SR

Viking Fund Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Spire Inc. (NYSE:SR) in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm acquired 60,000 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $4,891,000. Viking Fund Management LLC owned approximately 0.10% of Spire as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the stock. Hantz Financial Services Inc. raised its position in shares of Spire by 1,957.1% during the second quarter. Hantz Financial Services Inc. now owns 432 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $32,000 after purchasing an additional 411 shares during the period. Headlands Technologies LLC purchased a new position in Spire in the 2nd quarter worth about $38,000. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. raised its holdings in Spire by 1,031.5% during the 2nd quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. now owns 611 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $45,000 after buying an additional 557 shares during the period. Quarry LP purchased a new stake in Spire during the first quarter valued at about $50,000. Finally, Daiwa Securities Group Inc. purchased a new stake in Spire during the second quarter valued at about $48,000. 87.36% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts have recently weighed in on SR shares. Jefferies Financial Group raised shares of Spire to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 7th. UBS Group lifted their price objective on shares of Spire from $95.00 to $100.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday. Morgan Stanley set a $97.00 target price on shares of Spire in a research note on Thursday, November 20th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “hold (c+)” rating on shares of Spire in a research report on Monday, December 15th. Finally, Mizuho lifted their price target on Spire from $93.00 to $96.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, November 20th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, three have given a Buy rating and six have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $88.55.

Spire Stock Down 1.9%

Spire stock opened at $82.43 on Friday. Spire Inc. has a twelve month low of $65.15 and a twelve month high of $91.11. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.07, a quick ratio of 0.21 and a current ratio of 0.32. The firm has a market cap of $4.87 billion, a PE ratio of 18.73, a P/E/G ratio of 1.48 and a beta of 0.66. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $86.10 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $79.53.

Spire (NYSE:SR) last issued its earnings results on Friday, November 14th. The utilities provider reported ($0.47) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.46) by ($0.01). Spire had a net margin of 10.96% and a return on equity of 8.78%. The company had revenue of $334.10 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $439.56 million. During the same period last year, the business earned ($0.54) EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 13.7% on a year-over-year basis. Spire has set its FY 2027 guidance at 5.650-5.850 EPS and its FY 2026 guidance at 5.250-5.450 EPS. On average, research analysts predict that Spire Inc. will post 4.5 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Spire Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, January 5th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, December 11th will be paid a $0.825 dividend. This represents a $3.30 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.0%. This is an increase from Spire’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.79. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, December 11th. Spire’s dividend payout ratio is presently 75.00%.

Spire Profile

Spire Inc (NYSE: SR), formerly known as The Laclede Group, is a regulated natural gas distribution company headquartered in St. Louis, Missouri. Through its three operating divisions—Spire Missouri, Spire Alabama and Spire Mississippi—the company delivers natural gas to more than 1.7 million residential, commercial and industrial customers. Spire’s service territory spans key markets in the central and southern United States, including metropolitan St. Louis, central Alabama and central Mississippi.

Founded in 1857 as the Laclede Gas Light Company, the business has grown through strategic acquisitions, notably Alabama Gas Corporation in 2013 and Mississippi Gas in 2016.