Spire (NYSE:SR) Given New $75.00 Price Target at Wells Fargo & Company

Spire (NYSE:SR) had its target price upped by Wells Fargo & Company from $73.00 to $75.00 in a research report released on Thursday,Benzinga reports. The firm currently has an equal weight rating on the utilities provider’s stock.

Several other brokerages have also recently issued reports on SR. Mizuho upped their price objective on Spire from $62.00 to $65.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday. LADENBURG THALM/SH SH lowered Spire from a “neutral” rating to a “sell” rating and dropped their price target for the company from $65.50 to $60.50 in a research report on Thursday, October 17th. Morgan Stanley lifted their price objective on shares of Spire from $70.00 to $76.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday, September 25th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus increased 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. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating and one has given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $68.19.

Spire Stock Up 1.3 %

Shares of Spire stock traded up $0.95 during trading on Thursday, reaching $71.61. The company had a trading volume of 44,860 shares, compared to its average volume of 413,293. 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 fifty-two week low of $56.36 and a fifty-two week high of $71.88. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $65.74 and its 200-day moving average is $63.76. The company has a market cap of $4.14 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.23, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.00 and a beta of 0.52.

Spire Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, January 3rd. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, December 11th will be paid a dividend of $3.14 per share. This represents a $12.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 17.54%. This is a positive change from Spire’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.76. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, December 11th. Spire’s payout ratio is presently 72.60%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Spire

Several large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of Spire by 1.2% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 5,626,863 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $345,321,000 after purchasing an additional 65,486 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp lifted its stake in shares of Spire by 1.4% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 3,154,230 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $214,535,000 after acquiring an additional 44,969 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Spire by 5.5% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,385,452 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $93,244,000 after acquiring an additional 71,798 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its holdings in Spire by 8.3% during the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 944,387 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $57,351,000 after purchasing an additional 72,119 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its position in Spire by 4.7% in the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 805,932 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $54,231,000 after purchasing an additional 36,214 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 87.36% of the company’s stock.

About Spire

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.