Spire Inc. (NYSE:SR) Receives $61.72 Average Target Price from Analysts

Spire Inc. (NYSE:SR) has received a consensus rating of “Hold” from the eight analysts that are presently covering the stock, Marketbeat reports. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating and one has given a buy rating to the company. The average 12 month target price among analysts that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $61.72.

A number of equities research analysts recently commented on the stock. Royal Bank of Canada restated a “sector perform” rating and issued a $65.00 price objective on shares of Spire in a research report on Tuesday, April 16th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Spire from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, May 3rd. UBS Group assumed coverage on shares of Spire in a report on Friday, April 12th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $68.00 target price for the company. LADENBURG THALM/SH SH assumed coverage on shares of Spire in a report on Friday, April 26th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $57.50 target price for the company. Finally, Mizuho cut shares of Spire from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and dropped their target price for the company from $64.00 to $62.00 in a report on Thursday, May 2nd.

Spire Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:SR opened at $62.02 on Thursday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.48, a current ratio of 0.61 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.09. The company has a market cap of $3.58 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.66, a PEG ratio of 2.87 and a beta of 0.50. Spire has a 52 week low of $53.77 and a 52 week high of $68.94. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $60.54 and a 200 day moving average price of $60.40.

Spire (NYSE:SR) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, May 1st. The utilities provider reported $3.45 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.86 by ($0.41). The firm had revenue of $1.13 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.21 billion. Spire had a net margin of 9.05% and a return on equity of 7.88%. Spire’s revenue for the quarter was up .5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $3.70 EPS. Research analysts predict that Spire will post 4.34 earnings per share for the current year.

Spire Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, July 2nd. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, June 11th will be paid a dividend of $0.755 per share. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, June 11th. This represents a $3.02 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.87%. Spire’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 76.26%.

Insider Transactions at Spire

In other news, Treasurer Adam W. Woodard sold 1,229 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $59.58, for a total transaction of $73,223.82. Following the completion of the transaction, the treasurer now directly owns 1,560 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $92,944.80. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 2.86% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Spire

A number of hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Securian Asset Management Inc. boosted its position in Spire by 3.8% during the first quarter. Securian Asset Management Inc. now owns 4,521 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $277,000 after acquiring an additional 166 shares during the last quarter. Congress Asset Management Co. MA boosted its position in Spire by 0.3% during the fourth quarter. Congress Asset Management Co. MA now owns 64,144 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $3,999,000 after acquiring an additional 167 shares during the last quarter. Retirement Systems of Alabama boosted its position in Spire by 0.3% during the fourth quarter. Retirement Systems of Alabama now owns 65,882 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $4,107,000 after acquiring an additional 201 shares during the last quarter. New York State Common Retirement Fund boosted its position in Spire by 1.0% during the fourth quarter. New York State Common Retirement Fund now owns 21,048 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,312,000 after acquiring an additional 205 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Signaturefd LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Spire by 34.4% in the 4th quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 887 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $55,000 after purchasing an additional 227 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 87.36% of the company’s stock.

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.