Raymond James Financial Inc. Makes New $3.20 Million Investment in Spire Inc. (NYSE:SR)

Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Spire Inc. (NYSE:SR) in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor purchased 47,154 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $3,198,000.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Intech Investment Management LLC purchased a new stake in Spire in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $790,000. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its position in shares of Spire by 4.7% in the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 805,932 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $54,231,000 after purchasing an additional 36,214 shares during the period. Larson Financial Group LLC increased its stake in shares of Spire by 1,318.4% in the third quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC now owns 539 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $36,000 after purchasing an additional 501 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC raised its position in shares of Spire by 10.0% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 5,547 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $373,000 after purchasing an additional 502 shares during the period. Finally, BNP Paribas Financial Markets lifted its stake in shares of Spire by 18.8% during the 3rd quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 16,034 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,079,000 after buying an additional 2,542 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 87.36% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have issued reports on SR. Janney Montgomery Scott assumed coverage on Spire in a research note on Tuesday, December 17th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $73.00 price target for the company. Bank of America initiated coverage on Spire in a research note on Friday, December 13th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $70.00 price objective for the company. Morgan Stanley lifted their target price on Spire from $75.00 to $78.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 20th. Mizuho upped their price target on Spire from $76.00 to $82.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 19th. Finally, StockNews.com lowered shares of Spire from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Wednesday. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating, three have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $76.00.

Spire Stock Performance

Shares of SR opened at $77.45 on Friday. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $74.07 and a two-hundred day moving average of $69.47. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.21, a quick ratio of 0.37 and a current ratio of 0.50. The stock has a market cap of $4.52 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.75, a P/E/G ratio of 2.82 and a beta of 0.53. Spire Inc. has a one year low of $57.27 and a one year high of $78.83.

Spire (NYSE:SR) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 5th. The utilities provider reported $1.34 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.42 by ($0.08). Spire had a net margin of 9.70% and a return on equity of 7.88%. As a group, research analysts predict that Spire Inc. will post 4.5 EPS for the current year.

Spire Cuts Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 2nd. Investors of record on Tuesday, March 11th will be issued a dividend of $0.785 per share. This represents a $3.14 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.05%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, March 11th. Spire’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 76.03%.

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.