Natixis Purchases New Stake in Spire Inc. (NYSE:SR)

Natixis purchased a new stake in Spire Inc. (NYSE:SR) in the 1st quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund purchased 24,100 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $1,479,000.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. CANADA LIFE ASSURANCE Co increased its stake in Spire by 6.6% during the first quarter. CANADA LIFE ASSURANCE Co now owns 88,763 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $5,450,000 after acquiring an additional 5,513 shares during the last quarter. American International Group Inc. increased its stake in Spire by 1.9% during the first quarter. American International Group Inc. now owns 98,081 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $6,019,000 after acquiring an additional 1,818 shares during the last quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC acquired a new stake in Spire during the first quarter worth $2,401,000. Ameritas Investment Partners Inc. increased its stake in Spire by 1.8% during the first quarter. Ameritas Investment Partners Inc. now owns 18,365 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,127,000 after acquiring an additional 327 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Ontario Teachers Pension Plan Board acquired a new stake in Spire during the first quarter worth $4,488,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 87.36% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts have issued reports on the company. LADENBURG THALM/SH SH assumed coverage on Spire in a research note on Friday, April 26th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $57.50 target price for the company. Morgan Stanley lowered their price target on Spire from $67.00 to $64.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, June 24th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on Spire from $64.00 to $66.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 2nd. UBS Group assumed coverage on Spire in a research report on Friday, April 12th. They set a “buy” rating and a $68.00 price target for the company. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded Spire from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, May 3rd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and one has given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Spire currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $61.83.

Spire Stock Up 0.7 %

NYSE:SR traded up $0.46 during midday trading on Thursday, reaching $67.13. The company had a trading volume of 449,990 shares, compared to its average volume of 432,349. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.88 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.96, a PEG ratio of 3.06 and a beta of 0.51. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $60.92 and its 200-day simple moving average is $60.31. Spire Inc. has a 12-month low of $53.77 and a 12-month high of $68.02. The company has a current ratio of 0.61, a quick ratio of 0.48 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.09.

Spire (NYSE:SR) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, May 1st. The utilities provider reported $3.45 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.86 by ($0.41). The company had revenue of $1.13 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.21 billion. Spire had a net margin of 9.05% and a return on equity of 7.88%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up .5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $3.70 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Spire Inc. will post 4.32 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity at Spire

In other Spire news, EVP Steven P. Rasche purchased 4,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, June 13th. The stock was bought at an average cost of $23.83 per share, with a total value of $107,235.00. Following the acquisition, the executive vice president now directly owns 16,500 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $393,195. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. 2.86% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Spire Profile

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.