Spire Inc. (NYSE:SR) Receives Average Rating of “Hold” from Analysts

Shares of Spire Inc. (NYSE:SR) have received an average rating of “Hold” from the eight analysts that are currently covering the stock, MarketBeat reports. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, six have assigned a hold recommendation and one has assigned a buy recommendation to the company. The average 12-month target price among brokers that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $61.83.

Several equities research analysts have recently weighed in on SR shares. Royal Bank of Canada reissued a “sector perform” rating and issued a $65.00 target price on shares of Spire in a research note on Tuesday, April 16th. StockNews.com raised shares of Spire from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, May 3rd. Morgan Stanley reduced their target price on shares of Spire from $67.00 to $64.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday. UBS Group started coverage on shares of Spire in a research note on Friday, April 12th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $68.00 target price on the stock. Finally, Mizuho downgraded shares of Spire from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and reduced their price target for the stock from $64.00 to $62.00 in a research note on Thursday, May 2nd.

Spire Stock Up 1.5 %

SR opened at $60.10 on Friday. Spire has a twelve month low of $53.77 and a twelve month high of $66.48. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.47 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.18, a PEG ratio of 2.73 and a beta of 0.51. The company has a quick ratio of 0.48, a current ratio of 0.61 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.09. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $60.63 and a 200-day moving average price of $60.45.

Spire (NYSE:SR) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, May 1st. The utilities provider reported $3.45 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.86 by ($0.41). Spire had a net margin of 9.05% and a return on equity of 7.88%. The business had revenue of $1.13 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.21 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $3.70 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up .5% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts forecast that Spire will post 4.32 earnings per share for the current year.

Spire Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, July 2nd. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, June 11th will be paid a dividend of $0.755 per share. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, June 11th. This represents a $3.02 annualized dividend and a yield of 5.02%. Spire’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 76.26%.

Insider Activity

In related news, EVP Steven P. Rasche bought 4,500 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, June 13th. The shares were bought at an average price of $23.83 per share, with a total value of $107,235.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 16,500 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $393,195. The purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 2.86% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Spire

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of SR. International Assets Investment Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Spire during the fourth quarter worth approximately $2,001,000. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. purchased a new position in Spire in the fourth quarter worth $2,130,000. Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. raised its position in Spire by 11.6% in the fourth quarter. Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. now owns 772,012 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $48,127,000 after acquiring an additional 80,405 shares in the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP raised its position in Spire by 19.7% in the fourth quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 374,776 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $23,364,000 after acquiring an additional 61,564 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Victory Capital Management Inc. raised its position in Spire by 125.6% in the fourth quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 627,548 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $39,121,000 after acquiring an additional 349,393 shares in the last quarter. 87.36% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.