Spire Inc. (NYSE:SR) Given Average Recommendation of “Hold” by Brokerages

Spire Inc. (NYSE:SR) has been given an average rating of “Hold” by the nine analysts that are presently covering the company, Marketbeat Ratings reports. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and three have given a buy recommendation to the company. The average 1 year price target among analysts that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $74.00.

A number of brokerages recently weighed in on SR. LADENBURG THALM/SH SH upgraded shares of Spire from a “sell” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $83.00 price target on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, February 26th. Janney Montgomery Scott initiated coverage on shares of Spire in a report on Tuesday, December 17th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $73.00 target price on the stock. UBS Group raised their target price on shares of Spire from $75.00 to $80.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, November 21st. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Spire from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Friday, February 14th. Finally, Mizuho upgraded shares of Spire from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and raised their target price for the stock from $65.00 to $76.00 in a report on Friday, December 20th.

Insider Activity

In related news, Treasurer Adam W. Woodard sold 1,150 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, December 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $67.47, for a total value of $77,590.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the treasurer now directly owns 2,587 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $174,544.89. This trade represents a 30.77 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. 2.33% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Spire

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in SR. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Spire in the fourth quarter valued at $42,432,000. Captrust Financial Advisors bought a new position in Spire during the third quarter worth $39,228,000. Zimmer Partners LP bought a new position in Spire during the fourth quarter worth $30,083,000. Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its position in Spire by 29.0% during the fourth quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 1,022,870 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $69,381,000 after purchasing an additional 229,662 shares during the period. Finally, Sourcerock Group LLC bought a new position in Spire during the fourth quarter worth $12,567,000. 87.36% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Spire Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:SR opened at $76.39 on Wednesday. The company has a market capitalization of $4.46 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.50, a P/E/G ratio of 2.82 and a beta of 0.53. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $71.54 and its 200 day simple moving average is $68.46. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.21, a current ratio of 0.50 and a quick ratio of 0.37. Spire has a fifty-two week low of $57.27 and a fifty-two week high of $78.80.

Spire (NYSE:SR) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 5th. The utilities provider reported $1.34 earnings per share 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%. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Spire will post 4.5 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. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, March 11th will be issued a $0.785 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, March 11th. This represents a $3.14 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.11%. Spire’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) 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.