Spire Inc. $SR Stake Increased by Alps Advisors Inc.

Alps Advisors Inc. raised its stake in shares of Spire Inc. (NYSE:SR) by 33.1% during the third quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 23,491 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 5,839 shares during the quarter. Alps Advisors Inc.’s holdings in Spire were worth $1,915,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in SR. Hantz Financial Services Inc. raised its stake in shares of Spire by 1,957.1% in the 2nd quarter. Hantz Financial Services Inc. now owns 432 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $32,000 after purchasing an additional 411 shares in the last quarter. Financial Consulate Inc. bought a new stake in Spire in the third quarter valued at about $36,000. Headlands Technologies LLC bought a new stake in Spire in the second quarter valued at about $38,000. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. raised its stake in Spire by 1,031.5% during the second quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. now owns 611 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $45,000 after buying an additional 557 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Daiwa Securities Group Inc. bought a new position in Spire during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $48,000. 87.36% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Spire Stock Up 1.3%

Shares of Spire stock opened at $86.68 on Wednesday. Spire Inc. has a 1-year low of $69.94 and a 1-year high of $91.11. The company has a market capitalization of $5.12 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.84, a PEG ratio of 1.35 and a beta of 0.67. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $83.44 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $82.02. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.39, a current ratio of 0.61 and a quick ratio of 0.45.

Spire (NYSE:SR) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 3rd. The utilities provider reported $1.77 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.62 by $0.15. The business had revenue of $762.20 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $785.54 million. Spire had a net margin of 10.95% and a return on equity of 9.43%. The company’s revenue was up 13.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $1.34 earnings per share. Spire has set its FY 2027 guidance at 5.650-5.850 EPS and its FY 2026 guidance at 5.250-5.450 EPS. As a group, research analysts forecast that Spire Inc. will post 4.5 EPS for the current year.

Spire Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, April 2nd. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, March 11th will be paid a $0.825 dividend. This represents a $3.30 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.8%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, March 11th. Spire’s dividend payout ratio is currently 71.74%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts have recently weighed in on SR shares. UBS Group boosted their price target on Spire from $95.00 to $100.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, December 17th. Mizuho boosted their target price on shares of Spire from $93.00 to $96.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 20th. Stifel Nicolaus increased their target price on shares of Spire from $81.00 to $87.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 28th. Jefferies Financial Group reaffirmed a “buy” rating and issued a $99.00 price target on shares of Spire in a report on Wednesday, January 21st. Finally, Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of Spire from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 5th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, six have issued a Buy rating and four have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Spire presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $89.36.

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.