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

Hennessy Advisors Inc. lessened its stake in shares of Spire Inc. (NYSE:SR) by 13.0% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 54,141 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 8,100 shares during the quarter. Hennessy Advisors Inc. owned 0.09% of Spire worth $4,414,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in SR. Walleye Capital LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Spire by 5.2% in the 1st quarter. Walleye Capital LLC now owns 4,352 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $341,000 after acquiring an additional 214 shares during the last quarter. Ieq Capital LLC raised its position in Spire by 9.6% in the first quarter. Ieq Capital LLC now owns 6,354 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $497,000 after purchasing an additional 555 shares during the period. Quarry LP acquired a new position in Spire during the first quarter worth $50,000. EP Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its stake in Spire by 64.8% during the first quarter. EP Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 6,541 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $512,000 after purchasing an additional 2,571 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Adage Capital Partners GP L.L.C. purchased a new position in shares of Spire during the first quarter worth $30,322,000. 87.36% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts recently issued reports on SR shares. Jefferies Financial Group upgraded Spire to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 7th. Morgan Stanley set a $97.00 price target on shares of Spire in a research report on Thursday, November 20th. BTIG Research raised shares of Spire to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 22nd. UBS Group upped their target price on shares of Spire from $95.00 to $100.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 17th. Finally, Bank of America upgraded shares of Spire from an “underperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and increased their target price for the stock from $76.00 to $89.00 in a report on Wednesday, October 29th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, three have issued a Buy rating and six have issued a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Spire presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $88.55.

Spire Stock Performance

Shares of Spire stock opened at $82.75 on Friday. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $85.60 and a 200-day simple moving average of $80.09. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.07, a quick ratio of 0.21 and a current ratio of 0.32. Spire Inc. has a one year low of $65.15 and a one year high of $91.11. The company has a market cap of $4.89 billion, a PE ratio of 18.81, a P/E/G ratio of 1.49 and a beta of 0.68.

Spire (NYSE:SR) last issued its quarterly 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 return on equity of 8.78% and a net margin of 10.96%.The firm had revenue of $334.10 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $439.56 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned ($0.54) EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 13.7% compared to the same quarter last year. 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, equities research analysts forecast that Spire Inc. will post 4.5 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Spire Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, January 5th. Investors of record on Thursday, December 11th will be issued a $0.825 dividend. This represents a $3.30 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.0%. This is a boost from Spire’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.79. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, December 11th. Spire’s dividend payout ratio is currently 75.00%.

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.