Swiss National Bank Sells 600 Shares of Spire Inc. $SR

Swiss National Bank reduced its holdings in shares of Spire Inc. (NYSE:SR) by 0.5% during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 111,450 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 600 shares during the period. Swiss National Bank owned about 0.19% of Spire worth $8,135,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in SR. Greenland Capital Management LP boosted its holdings in Spire by 49.3% during the second quarter. Greenland Capital Management LP now owns 36,500 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $2,664,000 after purchasing an additional 12,060 shares in the last quarter. Duff & Phelps Investment Management Co. lifted its position in shares of Spire by 32.8% during the 2nd quarter. Duff & Phelps Investment Management Co. now owns 1,030,625 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $75,225,000 after buying an additional 254,285 shares during the period. Universal Beteiligungs und Servicegesellschaft mbH boosted its stake in Spire by 13.7% in the 2nd quarter. Universal Beteiligungs und Servicegesellschaft mbH now owns 41,834 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $3,053,000 after buying an additional 5,040 shares in the last quarter. Kingsview Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in Spire in the 2nd quarter valued at $2,395,000. Finally, Ontario Teachers Pension Plan Board grew its position in Spire by 50.1% in the second quarter. Ontario Teachers Pension Plan Board now owns 100,700 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $7,350,000 after acquiring an additional 33,611 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 87.36% of the company’s stock.

Spire Trading Up 0.5%

Shares of NYSE SR opened at $88.62 on Friday. Spire Inc. has a 1-year low of $64.44 and a 1-year high of $91.11. The company has a 50-day moving average of $85.39 and a two-hundred day moving average of $78.57. The company has a market cap of $5.23 billion, a PE ratio of 19.14, a P/E/G ratio of 2.50 and a beta of 0.72. The company has a current ratio of 0.37, a quick ratio of 0.27 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.08.

Spire (NYSE:SR) last released its quarterly earnings results on Friday, November 14th. The utilities provider reported ($0.47) EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($0.46) by ($0.01). Spire had a net margin of 11.56% and a return on equity of 8.66%. The company had revenue of $334.10 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $439.56 million. During the same period last year, the company earned ($0.54) earnings per share. Spire’s revenue for the quarter was up 13.7% compared to the same quarter last year. Spire has set its FY 2027 guidance at 5.650-5.850 EPS. FY 2026 guidance at 5.250-5.450 EPS. As a group, equities analysts expect that Spire Inc. will post 4.5 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Spire Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, January 5th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, December 11th will be paid a dividend of $0.825 per share. This represents a $3.30 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.7%. 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 payout ratio is currently 75.00%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have recently commented on SR. Jefferies Financial Group upgraded shares of Spire to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 7th. Mizuho boosted their price target on shares of Spire from $93.00 to $96.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating 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. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “hold (c+)” rating on shares of Spire in a report on Monday, November 24th. Finally, UBS Group lifted their target price on shares of Spire from $80.00 to $95.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, October 13th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, three have given a Buy rating and seven have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Spire currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $86.83.

Spire Company 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.