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

Corebridge Financial Inc. cut its position in Spire Inc. (NYSE:SR) by 5.1% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F 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.’s holdings in Spire were worth $6,321,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in SR. Captrust Financial Advisors bought a new position in shares of Spire in the 3rd quarter worth $39,228,000. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. acquired a new position in shares of Spire during the fourth quarter valued at about $8,277,000. Bank of New York Mellon Corp increased its position in shares of Spire by 15.8% during the fourth quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 778,442 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $52,802,000 after acquiring an additional 106,386 shares in the last quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans raised its holdings in shares of Spire by 13.2% in the 4th quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans now owns 731,682 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $49,630,000 after acquiring an additional 85,476 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its position in Spire by 5.5% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,385,452 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $93,244,000 after acquiring an additional 71,798 shares in the last quarter. 87.36% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have commented on SR. Mizuho increased their price objective on Spire from $76.00 to $82.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 19th. Morgan Stanley increased their price target on Spire from $75.00 to $78.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 20th. Janney Montgomery Scott started coverage on Spire in a research note on Tuesday, December 17th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $73.00 price objective on the stock. LADENBURG THALM/SH SH upgraded shares of Spire to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday, March 17th. Finally, Bank of America assumed coverage on shares of Spire in a research report on Friday, December 13th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $70.00 price target on the stock. One investment 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, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $76.00.

Spire Stock Performance

Shares of SR stock opened at $78.18 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.21, a quick ratio of 0.37 and a current ratio of 0.50. The firm has a market cap of $4.56 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.93, a P/E/G ratio of 2.82 and a beta of 0.53. Spire Inc. has a 52 week low of $57.27 and a 52 week high of $78.83. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $74.24 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $69.56.

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

Spire Cuts Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 2nd. Investors of record on Tuesday, March 11th will be issued a $0.785 dividend. 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 dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 76.03%.

About Spire

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.