Viking Fund Management LLC Makes New Investment in Spire Inc. $SR

Viking Fund Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Spire Inc. (NYSE:SR) during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor purchased 60,000 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $4,891,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of SR. HighTower Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Spire in the first quarter worth $415,000. AlphaQuest LLC lifted its position in shares of Spire by 1,055.6% in the first quarter. AlphaQuest LLC now owns 11,336 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $887,000 after buying an additional 10,355 shares during the last quarter. Jump Financial LLC boosted its stake in shares of Spire by 71.7% during the 1st quarter. Jump Financial LLC now owns 36,288 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $2,840,000 after acquiring an additional 15,153 shares in the last quarter. Campbell & CO Investment Adviser LLC bought a new stake in shares of Spire during the 1st quarter worth about $1,654,000. Finally, Walleye Capital LLC increased its holdings in shares of Spire by 5.2% during the 1st quarter. Walleye Capital LLC now owns 4,352 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $341,000 after acquiring an additional 214 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 87.36% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have issued reports on the company. Mizuho upped their target price on Spire from $93.00 to $96.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 20th. Bank of America raised shares of Spire from an “underperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and lifted their price target for the company from $76.00 to $89.00 in a research report on Wednesday, October 29th. Weiss Ratings restated a “hold (c+)” rating on shares of Spire in a research note on Monday, December 15th. Jefferies Financial Group upgraded shares of Spire to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 7th. Finally, UBS Group lifted their target price on shares of Spire from $95.00 to $100.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, three have assigned a Buy rating and six have given a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Spire currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $88.55.

Spire Stock Down 1.9%

SR opened at $82.43 on Friday. Spire Inc. has a 1-year low of $65.15 and a 1-year high of $91.11. The company has a current ratio of 0.32, a quick ratio of 0.21 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.07. The stock has a market capitalization of $4.87 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.73, a P/E/G ratio of 1.48 and a beta of 0.66. The business has a 50 day moving average of $86.10 and a 200-day moving average of $79.53.

Spire (NYSE:SR) last announced its earnings results on Friday, November 14th. The utilities provider reported ($0.47) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.46) by ($0.01). The company had revenue of $334.10 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $439.56 million. Spire had a return on equity of 8.78% and a net margin of 10.96%.The company’s revenue was up 13.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last 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, sell-side analysts anticipate that Spire Inc. will post 4.5 earnings per share for the current year.

Spire Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, January 5th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, December 11th will be given a dividend of $0.825 per share. This is an increase from Spire’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.79. This represents a $3.30 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.0%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, December 11th. Spire’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 75.00%.

Spire 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.