Spire (NYSE:SR) Price Target Increased to $73.00 by Analysts at Wells Fargo & Company

Spire (NYSE:SR) had its target price increased by Wells Fargo & Company from $72.00 to $73.00 in a report released on Wednesday, Benzinga reports. Wells Fargo & Company currently has an equal weight rating on the utilities provider’s stock.

A number of other brokerages have also recently issued reports on SR. Stifel Nicolaus raised their target price on shares of Spire from $64.00 to $70.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, August 1st. Morgan Stanley raised their price target on Spire from $70.00 to $76.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday, September 25th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating and one has issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $66.19.

Spire Trading Up 2.3 %

SR opened at $65.25 on Wednesday. Spire has a 12-month low of $54.15 and a 12-month high of $68.02. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.11, a current ratio of 0.48 and a quick ratio of 0.35. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.77 billion, a PE ratio of 16.48, a P/E/G ratio of 2.84 and a beta of 0.52. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $65.54 and its 200 day moving average price is $62.90.

Spire (NYSE:SR) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, July 31st. The utilities provider reported ($0.14) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.18) by $0.04. The business had revenue of $414.10 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $313.86 million. Spire had a net margin of 9.40% and a return on equity of 8.10%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 1.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted ($0.42) EPS. As a group, research analysts expect that Spire will post 4.23 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Spire Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, October 2nd. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, September 11th were issued a dividend of $0.755 per share. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, September 11th. This represents a $3.02 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.63%. Spire’s payout ratio is presently 76.26%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, VP Gerard J. Gorla sold 500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, August 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $64.82, for a total transaction of $32,410.00. Following the sale, the vice president now owns 7,311 shares in the company, valued at $473,899.02. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In related news, Director Maria V. Fogarty sold 6,590 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $65.15, for a total value of $429,338.50. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 9,800 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $638,470. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, VP Gerard J. Gorla sold 500 shares of Spire stock in a transaction dated Thursday, August 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $64.82, for a total value of $32,410.00. Following the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 7,311 shares in the company, valued at approximately $473,899.02. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 2.86% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Spire

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Blue Trust Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Spire by 26.8% during the second quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 761 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $47,000 after acquiring an additional 161 shares in the last quarter. Creative Planning lifted its holdings in shares of Spire by 2.7% during the 3rd quarter. Creative Planning now owns 7,126 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $480,000 after buying an additional 190 shares during the last quarter. State of Alaska Department of Revenue grew its stake in shares of Spire by 4.8% in the 1st quarter. State of Alaska Department of Revenue now owns 5,958 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $365,000 after buying an additional 275 shares in the last quarter. Burney Co. grew its stake in shares of Spire by 8.9% in the 1st quarter. Burney Co. now owns 3,866 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $237,000 after buying an additional 315 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Ameritas Investment Partners Inc. increased its holdings in Spire by 1.8% in the first quarter. Ameritas Investment Partners Inc. now owns 18,365 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,127,000 after buying an additional 327 shares during the last quarter. 87.36% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.