Spire Inc. (NYSE:SR) Raises Dividend to $3.14 Per Share

Spire Inc. (NYSE:SR) announced a quarterly dividend on Thursday, November 14th,RTT News reports. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, December 11th will be paid a dividend of 3.14 per share by the utilities provider on Friday, January 3rd. This represents a $12.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 19.04%. This is an increase from Spire’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.76.

Spire has raised its dividend by an average of 5.0% annually over the last three years and has raised its dividend every year for the last 21 years. Spire has a payout ratio of 66.2% meaning its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Research analysts expect Spire to earn $4.52 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $3.02 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 66.8%.

Spire Trading Up 0.4 %

NYSE:SR opened at $65.96 on Friday. Spire has a twelve month low of $56.36 and a twelve month high of $68.02. The company has a quick ratio of 0.35, a current ratio of 0.48 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.11. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $65.46 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $63.51. The company has a market cap of $3.81 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.86, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.90 and a beta of 0.52.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts have issued reports on the company. 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. LADENBURG THALM/SH SH downgraded Spire from a “neutral” rating to a “sell” rating and cut their price target for the company from $65.50 to $60.50 in a report on Thursday, October 17th. Morgan Stanley raised their price target on Spire from $70.00 to $76.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday, September 25th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on Spire from $72.00 to $73.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 16th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating and one has given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $66.19.

Insider Buying and Selling at Spire

In other Spire news, VP Gerard J. Gorla sold 500 shares of Spire stock in a transaction dated Thursday, August 22nd. The stock was 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. The trade was a 6.40 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Company insiders own 2.86% 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.