Spire Inc. (NYSE:SR) Director Purchases $73,610.00 in Stock

Spire Inc. (NYSE:SR) Director Paul D. Koonce acquired 1,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, December 2nd. The shares were acquired at an average price of $73.61 per share, with a total value of $73,610.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 2,425 shares in the company, valued at approximately $178,504.25. This trade represents a 70.18 % increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website.

Spire Stock Down 1.0 %

SR opened at $71.72 on Wednesday. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $66.70 and a 200 day moving average price of $64.40. Spire Inc. has a twelve month low of $56.36 and a twelve month high of $73.64. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.24, a quick ratio of 0.30 and a current ratio of 0.45. The firm has a market cap of $4.14 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.64, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.21 and a beta of 0.57.

Spire Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, January 3rd. Investors of record on Wednesday, December 11th will be issued a $3.14 dividend. This is a positive change from Spire’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.76. This represents a $12.56 annualized dividend and a yield of 17.51%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, December 11th. Spire’s payout ratio is 70.07%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have commented on SR. Stifel Nicolaus decreased their price objective on Spire from $70.00 to $69.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, November 22nd. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on Spire from $73.00 to $75.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 21st. UBS Group raised their price objective on Spire from $75.00 to $80.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 21st. Mizuho lifted their price target on Spire from $62.00 to $65.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, November 19th. Finally, Morgan Stanley reduced their price target on Spire from $77.00 to $75.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Friday, November 22nd. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating and one has issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $69.93.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Spire

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in SR. State Street Corp increased its position in Spire by 1.4% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 3,154,230 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $214,535,000 after buying an additional 44,969 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its position in Spire by 5.5% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,385,452 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $93,244,000 after buying an additional 71,798 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its position in Spire by 8.3% in the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 944,387 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $57,351,000 after buying an additional 72,119 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its position in Spire by 4.7% in the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 805,932 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $54,231,000 after buying an additional 36,214 shares during the period. Finally, Victory Capital Management Inc. increased its position in Spire by 11.0% in the 2nd quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 698,819 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $42,439,000 after buying an additional 69,020 shares during the period. 87.36% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.