Spire (NYSE:SR) Reaches New 1-Year High – Still a Buy?

Spire Inc. (NYSE:SR) reached a new 52-week high during trading on Monday . The company traded as high as $79.11 and last traded at $77.82, with a volume of 76306 shares changing hands. The stock had previously closed at $78.20.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

SR has been the subject of several research reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised shares of Spire from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and upped their price target for the stock from $72.00 to $85.00 in a research report on Thursday, March 20th. LADENBURG THALM/SH SH raised shares of Spire to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Monday, March 17th. StockNews.com cut Spire from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 26th. Mizuho upped their price objective on shares of Spire from $76.00 to $82.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, March 19th. Finally, Bank of America began coverage on shares of Spire in a research note on Friday, December 13th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $70.00 target price for the company. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating, three have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $76.00.

Spire Stock Performance

The stock has a market capitalization of $4.57 billion, a PE ratio of 18.96, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.82 and a beta of 0.53. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $74.24 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $69.61. The company has a current ratio of 0.50, a quick ratio of 0.37 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.21.

Spire (NYSE:SR) last released 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 return on equity of 7.88% and a net margin of 9.70%. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Spire Inc. will post 4.5 EPS 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 paid a $0.785 dividend. This represents a $3.14 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.01%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, March 11th. Spire’s payout ratio is 76.03%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Spire

Several institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of SR. Blair William & Co. IL grew its holdings in Spire by 2.6% during the 4th quarter. Blair William & Co. IL now owns 6,027 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $409,000 after acquiring an additional 152 shares in the last quarter. Gamco Investors INC. ET AL lifted its holdings in shares of Spire by 2.3% in the 4th quarter. Gamco Investors INC. ET AL now owns 9,050 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $614,000 after purchasing an additional 200 shares during the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its position in shares of Spire by 87.2% in the 4th quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 438 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $30,000 after purchasing an additional 204 shares during the period. iSAM Funds UK Ltd grew its stake in Spire by 2.5% during the 4th quarter. iSAM Funds UK Ltd now owns 9,798 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $665,000 after buying an additional 239 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Parkside Financial Bank & Trust grew its stake in Spire by 11.7% during the 4th quarter. Parkside Financial Bank & Trust now owns 2,308 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $157,000 after buying an additional 241 shares during the last quarter. 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.