Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA Has $49.14 Million Stake in Spire Inc. $SR

Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA boosted its stake in Spire Inc. (NYSE:SR) by 10.7% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 594,240 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after buying an additional 57,487 shares during the period. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA’s holdings in Spire were worth $49,144,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of SR. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC boosted its stake in Spire by 10.0% in the 1st quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC now owns 212,438 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $16,623,000 after buying an additional 19,373 shares in the last quarter. Jane Street Group LLC acquired a new position in Spire in the first quarter worth $9,636,000. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. boosted its stake in Spire by 1,031.5% in the second quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. now owns 611 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $45,000 after purchasing an additional 557 shares in the last quarter. M&T Bank Corp boosted its stake in Spire by 75.8% in the second quarter. M&T Bank Corp now owns 4,658 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $340,000 after purchasing an additional 2,009 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Invesco Ltd. boosted its stake in Spire by 1.5% in the second quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 585,919 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $42,766,000 after purchasing an additional 8,726 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 87.36% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have commented on SR. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their price objective on Spire from $81.00 to $87.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 28th. UBS Group boosted their price objective on Spire from $95.00 to $100.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, December 17th. Morgan Stanley reissued an “overweight” rating and issued a $100.00 price objective on shares of Spire in a research note on Friday, February 20th. Jefferies Financial Group reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $99.00 price objective on shares of Spire in a research note on Wednesday, January 21st. Finally, Weiss Ratings raised Spire from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 5th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, six have assigned a Buy rating and three have given a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $92.78.

Spire Trading Up 0.2%

SR stock opened at $92.56 on Wednesday. The company has a market cap of $5.47 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.12, a PEG ratio of 1.54 and a beta of 0.60. Spire Inc. has a twelve month low of $69.94 and a twelve month high of $95.31. The company has a quick ratio of 0.45, a current ratio of 0.61 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.39. The business has a fifty day moving average of $90.80 and a 200-day moving average of $86.84.

Spire (NYSE:SR) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, February 3rd. The utilities provider reported $1.77 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.62 by $0.15. The company had revenue of $762.20 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $785.54 million. Spire had a return on equity of 9.43% and a net margin of 10.95%.The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 13.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $1.34 earnings per share. 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 research analysts expect that Spire Inc. will post 4.5 EPS for the current year.

Spire Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, April 2nd. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, March 11th were given a dividend of $0.825 per share. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, March 11th. This represents a $3.30 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.6%. Spire’s payout ratio is presently 71.74%.

Spire Company Profile

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.