Natixis Advisors LLC Purchases 13,150 Shares of Spire Inc. $SR

Natixis Advisors LLC raised its position in shares of Spire Inc. (NYSE:SR) by 8.0% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 176,890 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after buying an additional 13,150 shares during the quarter. Natixis Advisors LLC owned about 0.30% of Spire worth $14,420,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in SR. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Spire by 2.0% in the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 6,411,042 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $522,628,000 after purchasing an additional 123,584 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp raised its stake in Spire by 1.9% during the second quarter. State Street Corp now owns 3,351,641 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $247,162,000 after purchasing an additional 61,851 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its stake in Spire by 1.5% during the second quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,512,167 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $110,386,000 after purchasing an additional 22,296 shares in the last quarter. Captrust Financial Advisors lifted its position in Spire by 7.7% during the second quarter. Captrust Financial Advisors now owns 1,135,167 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $82,856,000 after purchasing an additional 80,929 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Duff & Phelps Investment Management Co. grew its stake in shares of 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 buying an additional 254,285 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 87.36% of the company’s stock.

Spire Trading Up 1.2%

Shares of SR opened at $91.01 on Friday. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $86.89 and its 200-day simple moving average is $84.25. The company has a market cap of $5.38 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.78, a P/E/G ratio of 1.46 and a beta of 0.64. The company has a current ratio of 0.61, a quick ratio of 0.45 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.39. Spire Inc. has a twelve month low of $69.94 and a twelve month high of $92.95.

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

Spire Announces Dividend

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

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have recently weighed in on SR. Jefferies Financial Group restated a “buy” rating and issued a $99.00 target price on shares of Spire in a report on Wednesday, January 21st. Stifel Nicolaus increased their price target on shares of Spire from $81.00 to $87.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 28th. Morgan Stanley reiterated an “overweight” rating and issued a $100.00 price target on shares of Spire in a research report on Friday, February 20th. Weiss Ratings upgraded Spire from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a research report on Thursday, February 5th. Finally, Mizuho raised their price objective on Spire from $93.00 to $96.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 20th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, six have given a Buy rating and four have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $90.70.

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.