Panagora Asset Management Inc. Takes $553,000 Position in Spire Inc. $SR

Panagora Asset Management Inc. acquired a new position in Spire Inc. (NYSE:SR) in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm acquired 7,570 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $553,000.

Several other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Hantz Financial Services Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Spire by 1,957.1% in the second 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. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. grew its holdings in shares of 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. Quarry LP acquired a new position in Spire during the first quarter valued at $50,000. Bayforest Capital Ltd lifted its stake in Spire by 2,648.0% in the 1st quarter. Bayforest Capital Ltd now owns 687 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $54,000 after acquiring an additional 662 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Parallel Advisors LLC boosted its position in Spire by 75.2% during the 2nd quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC now owns 785 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $57,000 after acquiring an additional 337 shares during the period. 87.36% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Spire Stock Performance

SR stock opened at $82.45 on Friday. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $85.92 and a two-hundred day moving average of $78.94. Spire Inc. has a 12 month low of $64.44 and a 12 month high of $91.11. The company has a market capitalization of $4.87 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.74, a P/E/G ratio of 1.48 and a beta of 0.66. The company has a quick ratio of 0.21, a current ratio of 0.32 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.07.

Spire (NYSE:SR) last released its quarterly earnings data on Friday, November 14th. The utilities provider reported ($0.47) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($0.46) by ($0.01). The business had revenue of $334.10 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $439.56 million. Spire had a net margin of 10.96% and a return on equity of 8.78%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 13.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted ($0.54) EPS. 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, equities analysts anticipate that Spire Inc. will post 4.5 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Spire Increases Dividend

The business 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 is a boost from Spire’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.79. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, December 11th. This represents a $3.30 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.0%. Spire’s dividend payout ratio is currently 71.36%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have recently weighed in on SR. BTIG Research upgraded Spire to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 22nd. UBS Group upped their price objective 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. Bank of America upgraded shares of Spire from an “underperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and increased their target price for the stock from $76.00 to $89.00 in a research report on Wednesday, October 29th. Mizuho boosted their price target on shares of Spire from $93.00 to $96.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, November 20th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group upgraded Spire to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 7th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, three have assigned a Buy rating and seven have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $86.83.

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.