Spire Inc. (NYSE:SR) Receives $63.83 Average Price Target from Brokerages

Spire Inc. (NYSE:SR) has been given a consensus rating of “Hold” by the eight ratings firms that are currently covering the firm, MarketBeat.com reports. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, six have issued a hold recommendation and one has given a buy recommendation to the company. The average 12-month target price among brokerages that have covered the stock in the last year is $64.94.

SR has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Stifel Nicolaus raised their price target on Spire from $64.00 to $70.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, August 1st. Morgan Stanley boosted their price target on shares of Spire from $70.00 to $76.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, September 25th.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, VP Gerard J. Gorla sold 500 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, August 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $64.82, for a total value of $32,410.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now owns 7,311 shares in the company, valued at $473,899.02. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other news, Director Maria V. Fogarty sold 6,590 shares of the stock in a transaction on 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 owns 9,800 shares in the company, valued at $638,470. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, VP Gerard J. Gorla sold 500 shares of Spire stock in a transaction on 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 owns 7,311 shares in the company, valued at $473,899.02. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 2.86% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Spire

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC grew its position in Spire by 592.5% during the fourth quarter. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC now owns 46,338 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $2,889,000 after purchasing an additional 39,647 shares in the last quarter. Quadrature Capital Ltd boosted its holdings in shares of Spire by 12.2% during the 4th quarter. Quadrature Capital Ltd now owns 14,970 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $934,000 after buying an additional 1,629 shares during the period. Dean Capital Management lifted its position in Spire by 14.3% during the 4th quarter. Dean Capital Management now owns 36,787 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $2,293,000 after acquiring an additional 4,595 shares during the last quarter. Hotchkis & Wiley Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in Spire by 3.9% during the fourth quarter. Hotchkis & Wiley Capital Management LLC now owns 186,652 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $11,636,000 after acquiring an additional 7,000 shares during the period. Finally, Tortoise Index Solutions LLC lifted its position in shares of Spire by 5.1% during the 4th quarter. Tortoise Index Solutions LLC now owns 103,790 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $6,470,000 after purchasing an additional 5,001 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 87.36% of the company’s stock.

Spire Stock Up 1.5 %

Spire stock opened at $64.87 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.11, a quick ratio of 0.35 and a current ratio of 0.48. Spire has a one year low of $54.15 and a one year high of $68.02. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $65.43 and a 200-day simple moving average of $62.73. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.75 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.38, a P/E/G ratio of 2.84 and a beta of 0.52.

Spire (NYSE:SR) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 31st. The utilities provider reported ($0.14) EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($0.18) by $0.04. The company 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%. Spire’s revenue was down 1.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business earned ($0.42) earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts expect that Spire will post 4.23 earnings per share for the current year.

Spire Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, October 2nd. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, September 11th were paid a dividend of $0.755 per share. This represents a $3.02 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.66%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, September 11th. Spire’s dividend payout ratio is presently 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.