Spire Inc. (NYSE:SR) Receives Average Rating of “Hold” from Brokerages

Shares of Spire Inc. (NYSE:SR) have been assigned a consensus recommendation of “Hold” from the nine ratings firms that are covering the company, Marketbeat.com reports. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, six have issued a hold recommendation and two have given a buy recommendation to the company. The average 1 year target price among analysts that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $71.50.

A number of research analysts have weighed in on the stock. Stifel Nicolaus cut their price objective on shares of Spire from $70.00 to $69.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a report on Friday, November 22nd. Janney Montgomery Scott initiated coverage on shares of Spire in a research note on Tuesday, December 17th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $73.00 target price for the company. Mizuho raised shares of Spire from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and boosted their target price for the stock from $65.00 to $76.00 in a research note on Friday, December 20th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on shares of Spire from $73.00 to $75.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 21st. Finally, Morgan Stanley cut their target price on shares of Spire from $77.00 to $75.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, November 22nd.

Insider Activity at Spire

In other Spire news, Director Paul D. Koonce acquired 1,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 2nd. The stock was bought at an average price of $73.61 per share, with a total value of $73,610.00. Following the purchase, the director now owns 2,425 shares in the company, valued at approximately $178,504.25. The trade was a 70.18 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Treasurer Adam W. Woodard sold 1,150 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, December 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $67.47, for a total transaction of $77,590.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the treasurer now owns 2,587 shares in the company, valued at $174,544.89. The trade was a 30.77 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 2.33% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Spire

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Meeder Asset Management Inc. acquired a new position in Spire in the 3rd quarter valued at about $25,000. Golden State Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in Spire in the 4th quarter valued at about $27,000. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its holdings in Spire by 87.2% in the 4th quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 438 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $30,000 after purchasing an additional 204 shares during the last quarter. Lee Danner & Bass Inc. acquired a new position in Spire in the 4th quarter valued at about $32,000. Finally, Larson Financial Group LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Spire by 1,318.4% in the 3rd quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC now owns 539 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $36,000 after acquiring an additional 501 shares during the last quarter. 87.36% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Spire Trading Up 0.8 %

NYSE SR opened at $73.95 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $4.31 billion, a PE ratio of 17.91, a P/E/G ratio of 2.76 and a beta of 0.58. The company has a fifty day moving average of $68.98 and a 200 day moving average of $67.22. Spire has a 1 year low of $57.27 and a 1 year high of $74.50. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.21, a current ratio of 0.50 and a quick ratio of 0.30.

Spire (NYSE:SR) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, February 5th. The utilities provider reported $1.34 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.42 by ($0.08). Spire had a net margin of 9.70% and a return on equity of 7.88%. Research analysts forecast that Spire will post 4.51 earnings per share for the current year.

Spire Cuts Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 2nd. Investors of record on Tuesday, March 11th will be paid a dividend of $0.785 per share. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, March 11th. This represents a $3.14 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.25%. Spire’s dividend payout ratio is presently 76.03%.

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.