Stifel Nicolaus Cuts Spire (NYSE:SR) Price Target to $69.00

Spire (NYSE:SR) had its price target lowered by Stifel Nicolaus from $70.00 to $69.00 in a research note published on Friday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has a hold rating on the utilities provider’s stock.

Other equities research analysts have also issued research reports about the company. Morgan Stanley boosted their price target on Spire from $70.00 to $76.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, September 25th. StockNews.com lowered shares of Spire from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Thursday. Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on Spire from $73.00 to $75.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday. UBS Group lifted their target price on shares of Spire from $75.00 to $80.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday. Finally, Mizuho lifted their target price on shares of Spire from $62.00 to $65.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 19th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating and one has issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Spire has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $68.06.

Spire Stock Up 2.7 %

Spire stock opened at $72.55 on Friday. The business has a fifty day moving average of $65.87 and a two-hundred day moving average of $63.85. Spire has a twelve month low of $56.36 and a twelve month high of $72.71. The company has a quick ratio of 0.35, a current ratio of 0.45 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.24. The firm has a market cap of $4.19 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.83, a P/E/G ratio of 3.13 and a beta of 0.52.

Spire Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, January 3rd. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, December 11th will be paid a dividend of $3.14 per share. This represents a $12.56 annualized dividend and a yield of 17.31%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, December 11th. This is a positive change from Spire’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.76. Spire’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 72.85%.

Institutional Trading of Spire

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Meeder Asset Management Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Spire during the third quarter worth $25,000. International Assets Investment Management LLC purchased a new stake in Spire in the 2nd quarter valued at $31,000. LRI Investments LLC purchased a new position in shares of Spire during the first quarter worth about $35,000. Larson Financial Group LLC raised its stake in shares of Spire by 1,318.4% during the third quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC now owns 539 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $36,000 after purchasing an additional 501 shares during the last quarter. Finally, EntryPoint Capital LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Spire in the first quarter valued at about $47,000. 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.