Spire (NYSE:SR) Stock Rating Lowered by StockNews.com

StockNews.com cut shares of Spire (NYSE:SR) from a hold rating to a sell rating in a report released on Thursday morning.

A number of other brokerages have also issued reports on SR. Morgan Stanley increased their price target on Spire from $70.00 to $76.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, September 25th. UBS Group raised their target price on Spire from $75.00 to $80.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their price target on shares of Spire from $64.00 to $70.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 1st. LADENBURG THALM/SH SH downgraded shares of Spire from a “neutral” rating to a “sell” rating and cut their price target for the company from $65.50 to $60.50 in a report on Thursday, October 17th. Finally, Mizuho lifted their price objective on shares of Spire from $62.00 to $65.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating and one has assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $68.31.

Spire Stock Up 3.2 %

SR stock opened at $70.59 on Thursday. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $65.74 and its two-hundred day moving average is $63.76. The company has a market capitalization of $4.08 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.97, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.00 and a beta of 0.52. Spire has a 52 week low of $56.36 and a 52 week high of $70.73. The company has a current ratio of 0.48, a quick ratio of 0.35 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.11.

Spire Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, January 3rd. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, December 11th will be given a $3.14 dividend. This is an increase from Spire’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.76. This represents a $12.56 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 17.79%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, December 11th. Spire’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 72.60%.

Institutional Trading of Spire

Large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Meeder Asset Management Inc. purchased a new stake in Spire in the 3rd quarter worth about $25,000. International Assets Investment Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Spire in the 2nd quarter valued at about $31,000. LRI Investments LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Spire in the first quarter worth approximately $35,000. Larson Financial Group LLC boosted its holdings 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 period. Finally, EntryPoint Capital LLC purchased a new position in Spire during the first quarter valued at approximately $47,000. 87.36% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.