Spire Inc. (NYSE:SR) Receives Consensus Recommendation of “Hold” from Analysts

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

Several brokerages recently issued reports on SR. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their target price on Spire from $64.00 to $66.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 2nd. Mizuho downgraded shares of Spire from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and lowered their target price for the stock from $64.00 to $62.00 in a report on Thursday, May 2nd. LADENBURG THALM/SH SH assumed coverage on shares of Spire in a research note on Friday, April 26th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $57.50 target price for the company. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated a “sector perform” rating and issued a $65.00 price target on shares of Spire in a research note on Tuesday, April 16th. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded Spire from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, May 3rd.

Insider Activity at Spire

In other news, EVP Steven P. Rasche bought 4,500 shares of Spire stock in a transaction dated Thursday, June 13th. The shares were acquired at an average price of $23.83 per share, with a total value of $107,235.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the executive vice president now owns 16,500 shares in the company, valued at approximately $393,195. The acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. 2.86% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. Blue Trust Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Spire by 26.8% during the 2nd quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 761 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $47,000 after acquiring an additional 161 shares during the last quarter. Securian Asset Management Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Spire by 3.8% during the first quarter. Securian Asset Management Inc. now owns 4,521 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $277,000 after purchasing an additional 166 shares during the period. Congress Asset Management Co. MA grew its holdings in shares of Spire by 0.3% in the fourth quarter. Congress Asset Management Co. MA now owns 64,144 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $3,999,000 after purchasing an additional 167 shares during the last quarter. Retirement Systems of Alabama increased its stake in Spire by 0.3% in the 4th quarter. Retirement Systems of Alabama now owns 65,882 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $4,107,000 after buying an additional 201 shares during the period. Finally, New York State Common Retirement Fund lifted its holdings in Spire by 1.0% during the 4th quarter. New York State Common Retirement Fund now owns 21,048 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,312,000 after buying an additional 205 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 87.36% of the company’s stock.

Spire Stock Down 0.8 %

SR opened at $67.25 on Tuesday. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $61.21 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $60.43. The company has a market capitalization of $3.88 billion, a PE ratio of 16.98, a PEG ratio of 3.14 and a beta of 0.51. Spire has a 1-year low of $53.77 and a 1-year high of $68.02. The company has a current ratio of 0.61, a quick ratio of 0.48 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.09.

Spire (NYSE:SR) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, May 1st. The utilities provider reported $3.45 earnings per share 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 company had revenue of $1.13 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.21 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $3.70 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up .5% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Spire will post 4.32 EPS for the current year.

Spire Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, October 2nd. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, September 11th will be issued a $0.755 dividend. This represents a $3.02 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.49%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, September 11th. Spire’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 76.26%.

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.