Brokerages Set Spire Inc. (NYSE:SR) Target Price at $62.25

Spire Inc. (NYSE:SR) has received an average recommendation of “Hold” from the seven brokerages that are covering the firm, MarketBeat reports. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, four have assigned a hold recommendation and two have assigned a buy recommendation to the company. The average 1-year price target among brokers that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $62.25.

A number of research firms recently commented on SR. UBS Group began coverage on Spire in a research report on Friday, April 12th. They set a “buy” rating and a $68.00 price target on the stock. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed a “sector perform” rating and set a $65.00 price objective on shares of Spire in a report on Tuesday. Finally, Mizuho reduced their price objective on Spire from $66.00 to $64.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, January 22nd.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Spire news, Treasurer Adam W. Woodard sold 1,229 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $59.58, for a total transaction of $73,223.82. Following the transaction, the treasurer now owns 1,560 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $92,944.80. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In related news, Treasurer Adam W. Woodard sold 1,229 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, March 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $59.58, for a total value of $73,223.82. Following the completion of the sale, the treasurer now directly owns 1,560 shares in the company, valued at approximately $92,944.80. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, insider Joseph B. Hampton sold 1,294 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $58.13, for a total value of $75,220.22. Following the sale, the insider now owns 6,768 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $393,423.84. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 2.86% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Spire

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of SR. Fifth Third Bancorp lifted its position in shares of Spire by 81.9% during the 3rd quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp now owns 644 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $36,000 after buying an additional 290 shares during the last quarter. Quarry LP increased its holdings in Spire by 817.5% in the 2nd quarter. Quarry LP now owns 578 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $37,000 after purchasing an additional 515 shares in the last quarter. Cohen & Steers Inc. increased its holdings in Spire by 31.8% in the 1st quarter. Cohen & Steers Inc. now owns 639 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $46,000 after purchasing an additional 154 shares in the last quarter. Signaturefd LLC increased its holdings in Spire by 34.4% in the 4th quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 887 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $55,000 after purchasing an additional 227 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Qube Research & Technologies Ltd acquired a new position in Spire in the 3rd quarter worth about $65,000. 87.36% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Spire Trading Up 2.1 %

SR stock opened at $59.40 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $3.27 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.01, a P/E/G ratio of 2.67 and a beta of 0.51. Spire has a 1-year low of $53.77 and a 1-year high of $70.60. The business’s 50 day moving average is $59.71 and its 200-day moving average is $59.77. The company has a current ratio of 0.55, a quick ratio of 0.43 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.16.

Spire (NYSE:SR) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 1st. The utilities provider reported $1.47 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.37 by $0.10. The business had revenue of $756.60 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $688.88 million. Spire had a return on equity of 8.27% and a net margin of 8.11%. Spire’s revenue for the quarter was down 7.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $1.55 EPS. Equities analysts anticipate that Spire will post 4.35 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Spire Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, April 2nd. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 11th were paid a $0.755 dividend. This represents a $3.02 annualized dividend and a yield of 5.08%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 8th. Spire’s payout ratio is 81.40%.

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.