Spire Inc. (NYSE:SR) Given Consensus Rating of “Hold” by Brokerages

Spire Inc. (NYSE:SR) has earned an average rating of “Hold” from the nine brokerages that are covering the stock, Marketbeat.com reports. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the company. The average 12-month target price among brokerages that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $71.50.

SR has been the subject of several recent research reports. Morgan Stanley cut their price target on Spire from $77.00 to $75.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, November 22nd. LADENBURG THALM/SH SH cut Spire from a “neutral” rating to a “sell” rating and cut their target price for the stock from $65.50 to $60.50 in a research note on Thursday, October 17th. UBS Group upped their target price on Spire from $75.00 to $80.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 21st. StockNews.com upgraded Spire from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus cut their target price on Spire from $70.00 to $69.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, November 22nd.

Insider Activity

In related news, Director Paul D. Koonce acquired 1,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 2nd. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $73.61 per share, for a total transaction of $73,610.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director now directly owns 2,425 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $178,504.25. This trade represents a 70.18 % increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Treasurer Adam W. Woodard sold 1,150 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, December 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $67.47, for a total value of $77,590.50. Following the completion of the sale, the treasurer now owns 2,587 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $174,544.89. The trade was a 30.77 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 2.33% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Spire

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of SR. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in Spire by 5.5% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,385,452 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $93,244,000 after acquiring an additional 71,798 shares during the period. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC acquired a new stake in Spire during the 3rd quarter worth about $787,000. Cynosure Group LLC acquired a new stake in Spire during the 3rd quarter worth about $4,067,000. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC grew its holdings in Spire by 116.2% during the 3rd quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 28,025 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,886,000 after acquiring an additional 15,060 shares during the period. Finally, Entropy Technologies LP grew its holdings in Spire by 175.5% during the 3rd quarter. Entropy Technologies LP now owns 15,637 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,052,000 after acquiring an additional 9,962 shares during the period. 87.36% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Spire Trading Down 1.3 %

Shares of SR stock opened at $71.31 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 0.45, a quick ratio of 0.30 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.24. The stock has a market cap of $4.12 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.54, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.71 and a beta of 0.58. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $68.93 and a 200 day simple moving average of $67.02. Spire has a 1 year low of $56.99 and a 1 year high of $73.64.

Spire (NYSE:SR) last issued 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 9.52% and a return on equity of 8.10%. On average, research analysts predict that Spire will post 4.51 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Spire Cuts Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 2nd. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, March 11th will be paid a $0.785 dividend. This represents a $3.14 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.40%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, March 11th. Spire’s payout ratio is 72.85%.

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.