Brandes Investment Partners LP Has $3.86 Million Stake in Spire Inc. (NYSE:SR)

Brandes Investment Partners LP grew its holdings in Spire Inc. (NYSE:SR) by 63.2% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 64,058 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 24,800 shares during the quarter. Brandes Investment Partners LP owned about 0.11% of Spire worth $3,858,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Creative Planning grew its stake in shares of Spire by 9.1% during the second quarter. Creative Planning now owns 6,936 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $421,000 after purchasing an additional 576 shares during the last quarter. Algert Global LLC acquired a new position in Spire during the 2nd quarter worth $337,000. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company boosted its position in Spire by 0.5% in the 2nd quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 501,852 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $30,477,000 after buying an additional 2,598 shares during the last quarter. Dark Forest Capital Management LP increased its stake in shares of Spire by 13.6% in the 2nd quarter. Dark Forest Capital Management LP now owns 9,034 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $549,000 after buying an additional 1,079 shares during the period. Finally, AQR Capital Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Spire by 290.9% in the 2nd quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 130,827 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $7,877,000 after buying an additional 97,358 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 87.36% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts recently issued reports on the company. Stifel Nicolaus raised their price target on Spire from $64.00 to $70.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, August 1st. Morgan Stanley upped their target price on shares of Spire from $70.00 to $76.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, September 25th. One 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’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Spire has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $63.83.

Insider Buying and Selling at Spire

In other news, Director Maria V. Fogarty sold 6,590 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $65.15, for a total transaction of $429,338.50. Following the sale, the director now owns 9,800 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $638,470. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. In other news, Director Maria V. Fogarty sold 6,590 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, August 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $65.15, for a total transaction of $429,338.50. Following the completion of the sale, the director now owns 9,800 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $638,470. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, VP Gerard J. Gorla sold 500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, August 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $64.82, for a total transaction of $32,410.00. Following the sale, the vice president now owns 7,311 shares in the company, valued at $473,899.02. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 2.86% of the company’s stock.

Spire Stock Performance

Shares of SR stock opened at $67.27 on Tuesday. The stock has a market cap of $3.88 billion, a PE ratio of 16.99, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.17 and a beta of 0.52. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $65.75 and a 200-day moving average of $62.38. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.11, a current ratio of 0.48 and a quick ratio of 0.35. Spire Inc. has a one year low of $53.77 and a one year high of $68.02.

Spire (NYSE:SR) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, July 31st. The utilities provider reported ($0.14) EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($0.18) by $0.04. The firm had revenue of $414.10 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $313.86 million. Spire had a net margin of 9.40% and a return on equity of 8.10%. The business’s quarterly revenue was down 1.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned ($0.42) earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Spire Inc. will post 4.23 earnings per share for the current year.

Spire Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, October 2nd. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, September 11th will be issued a dividend of $0.755 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, September 11th. This represents a $3.02 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.49%. Spire’s dividend payout ratio is presently 76.26%.

About Spire

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.