Corebridge Financial Inc. Has $6.32 Million Position in Spire Inc. (NYSE:SR)

Corebridge Financial Inc. lessened its stake in shares of Spire Inc. (NYSE:SR) by 5.1% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 93,194 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 5,048 shares during the period. Corebridge Financial Inc. owned 0.16% of Spire worth $6,321,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its position in shares of Spire by 5.5% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,385,452 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $93,244,000 after purchasing an additional 71,798 shares during the period. Intech Investment Management LLC acquired a new stake in Spire during the third quarter worth about $790,000. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its holdings in Spire by 4.7% in the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 805,932 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $54,231,000 after buying an additional 36,214 shares during the period. KBC Group NV increased its holdings in Spire by 48.2% in the 4th quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 2,307 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $156,000 after buying an additional 750 shares during the period. Finally, Principal Financial Group Inc. raised its position in shares of Spire by 1.9% in the 4th quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 173,374 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $11,760,000 after buying an additional 3,163 shares in the last quarter. 87.36% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

SR has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Morgan Stanley lifted their price objective on shares of Spire from $75.00 to $78.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 20th. Mizuho lifted their price target on Spire from $76.00 to $82.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 19th. Bank of America started coverage on Spire in a research report on Friday, December 13th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $70.00 price objective for the company. LADENBURG THALM/SH SH upgraded Spire to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Monday, March 17th. Finally, Janney Montgomery Scott began coverage on shares of Spire in a report on Tuesday, December 17th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $73.00 target price for the company. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating, three have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $76.00.

Spire Stock Performance

Spire stock opened at $78.18 on Friday. The business has a 50 day moving average of $74.24 and a 200-day moving average of $69.56. The company has a market capitalization of $4.56 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.93, a P/E/G ratio of 2.82 and a beta of 0.53. Spire Inc. has a 1 year low of $57.27 and a 1 year high of $78.83. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.21, a current ratio of 0.50 and a quick ratio of 0.37.

Spire (NYSE:SR) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 5th. The utilities provider reported $1.34 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.42 by ($0.08). Spire had a net margin of 9.70% and a return on equity of 7.88%. On average, equities research analysts predict that Spire Inc. will post 4.5 earnings per share for the current year.

Spire Cuts Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 2nd. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, March 11th will be issued a dividend of $0.785 per share. This represents a $3.14 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.02%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, March 11th. Spire’s payout ratio is presently 76.03%.

Spire Company Profile

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.