Universal Beteiligungs und Servicegesellschaft mbH Boosts Position in Spire Inc. $SR

Universal Beteiligungs und Servicegesellschaft mbH boosted its position in Spire Inc. (NYSE:SR) by 36.2% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 56,977 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 15,143 shares during the period. Universal Beteiligungs und Servicegesellschaft mbH’s holdings in Spire were worth $4,645,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in SR. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of Spire in the second quarter worth approximately $45,155,000. Adage Capital Partners GP L.L.C. grew its position in shares of Spire by 158.1% during the 2nd quarter. Adage Capital Partners GP L.L.C. now owns 1,000,000 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $72,990,000 after acquiring an additional 612,500 shares during the period. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA bought a new stake in shares of Spire during the 3rd quarter valued at $43,756,000. Allianz Asset Management GmbH raised its holdings in Spire by 4,909.4% in the 2nd quarter. Allianz Asset Management GmbH now owns 280,025 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $20,439,000 after purchasing an additional 274,435 shares during the period. Finally, Duff & Phelps Investment Management Co. raised its holdings in Spire by 32.8% in 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 purchasing an additional 254,285 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 87.36% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have commented on SR. Jefferies Financial Group restated a “buy” rating and issued a $99.00 price target on shares of Spire in a research report on Wednesday, January 21st. Mizuho raised their target price on shares of Spire from $93.00 to $96.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 20th. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “hold (c+)” rating on shares of Spire in a research report on Monday, December 29th. UBS Group raised their price objective on shares of Spire from $95.00 to $100.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 17th. Finally, Bank of America raised shares of Spire from an “underperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and upped their target price for the stock from $76.00 to $89.00 in a report on Wednesday, October 29th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, five have issued a Buy rating and five have issued a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $88.82.

Spire Price Performance

Shares of Spire stock opened at $84.73 on Wednesday. The firm has a market cap of $5.01 billion, a PE ratio of 19.26, a PEG ratio of 1.51 and a beta of 0.67. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $83.76 and a 200 day moving average of $81.39. The company has a current ratio of 0.32, a quick ratio of 0.21 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.07. Spire Inc. has a 12 month low of $68.48 and a 12 month high of $91.11.

Spire (NYSE:SR) last posted its earnings results on Friday, November 14th. The utilities provider reported ($0.47) EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.46) by ($0.01). Spire had a net margin of 10.96% and a return on equity of 8.78%. The firm had revenue of $334.10 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $439.56 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted ($0.54) earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 13.7% compared to the same quarter last year. Spire has set its FY 2027 guidance at 5.650-5.850 EPS and its FY 2026 guidance at 5.250-5.450 EPS. On average, research analysts expect 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 was paid on Monday, January 5th. Investors of record on Thursday, December 11th were issued a dividend of $0.825 per share. This represents a $3.30 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.9%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, December 11th. This is a boost from Spire’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.79. Spire’s payout ratio is currently 75.00%.

About Spire

Spire Inc (NYSE: SR), formerly known as The Laclede Group, is a regulated natural gas distribution company headquartered in St. Louis, Missouri. Through its three operating divisions—Spire Missouri, Spire Alabama and Spire Mississippi—the company delivers natural gas to more than 1.7 million residential, commercial and industrial customers. Spire’s service territory spans key markets in the central and southern United States, including metropolitan St. Louis, central Alabama and central Mississippi.

Founded in 1857 as the Laclede Gas Light Company, the business has grown through strategic acquisitions, notably Alabama Gas Corporation in 2013 and Mississippi Gas in 2016.