Wellington Management Group LLP Grows Stock Holdings in Spire Inc. $SR

Wellington Management Group LLP raised its position in Spire Inc. (NYSE:SR) by 1.4% during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 667,616 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after buying an additional 8,927 shares during the quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP owned about 1.13% of Spire worth $52,134,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. BlackRock Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Spire in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $667,642,000. Adage Capital Partners GP L.L.C. grew its stake in shares of Spire by 158.1% during the 2nd quarter. Adage Capital Partners GP L.L.C. now owns 1,000,000 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $72,990,000 after purchasing an additional 612,500 shares during the period. Bank of New York Mellon Corp purchased a new position in Spire in the second quarter valued at about $45,993,000. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Spire during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $46,226,000. Finally, The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company purchased a new stake in shares of Spire in the 2nd quarter worth about $37,427,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 87.36% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

SR has been the topic of several recent research reports. UBS Group reduced their price target on shares of Spire from $106.00 to $103.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, May 8th. Weiss Ratings upgraded Spire from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “buy (b)” rating in a research report on Friday, July 24th. Wells Fargo & Company started coverage on Spire in a research report on Monday, May 11th. They set an “overweight” rating and a $96.00 price objective for the company. Mizuho started coverage on shares of Spire in a research note on Tuesday, July 7th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $88.00 price target on the stock. Finally, Wall Street Zen raised shares of Spire from a “strong sell” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Saturday, August 8th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, five have given a Buy rating and five have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $94.00.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, SVP Ryan Hyman sold 3,822 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, June 9th. The shares were sold at an average price of $80.51, for a total transaction of $307,709.22. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president directly owned 14,295 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,150,890.45. This represents a 21.10% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Director Paul Koonce acquired 500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, June 11th. The stock was bought at an average cost of $78.46 per share, for a total transaction of $39,230.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 8,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $627,680. This trade represents a 6.67% increase in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this purchase are available in the official SEC disclosure. 2.26% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Spire Stock Performance

NYSE:SR opened at $83.25 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $4.92 billion, a P/E ratio of 9.28, a P/E/G ratio of 1.85 and a beta of 0.54. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $81.47 and its two-hundred day moving average is $85.57. Spire Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $73.91 and a fifty-two week high of $95.31. The company has a quick ratio of 0.27, a current ratio of 0.37 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.61.

Spire (NYSE:SR) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, August 5th. The utilities provider reported ($0.26) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($0.32) by $0.06. The company had revenue of $420.20 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $394.62 million. Spire had a net margin of 21.48% and a return on equity of 8.65%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 19.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $0.01 EPS. Spire has set its FY 2026 guidance at 3.900-4.100 EPS. Analysts expect that Spire Inc. will post 4.01 EPS for the current year.

Spire Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, October 2nd. Shareholders of record on Friday, September 11th will be given a dividend of $0.825 per share. This represents a $3.30 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.0%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, September 11th. Spire’s payout ratio is 36.79%.

About Spire

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.