Spire Inc. (NYSE:SR) Given Average Rating of “Moderate Buy” by Brokerages

Spire Inc. (NYSE:SR) has earned a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” from the ten brokerages that are currently covering the stock, MarketBeat.com reports. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, three have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. The average 1-year target price among brokerages that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $77.40.

SR has been the subject of several research reports. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on Spire from $75.00 to $82.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, May 1st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised Spire from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and upped their price target for the company from $72.00 to $85.00 in a research report on Thursday, March 20th. Morgan Stanley lifted their price objective on Spire from $75.00 to $78.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, March 20th. Mizuho boosted their price objective on Spire from $76.00 to $82.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 19th. Finally, Guggenheim upped their price objective on shares of Spire from $67.00 to $72.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 1st.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in SR. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. purchased a new stake in shares of Spire in the fourth quarter worth about $1,030,000. KBC Group NV lifted its stake in Spire by 48.2% in the 4th quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 2,307 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $156,000 after purchasing an additional 750 shares in the last quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp lifted its stake in Spire by 15.8% in the 4th quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 778,442 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $52,802,000 after purchasing an additional 106,386 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its position in shares of Spire by 3.6% in the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 834,647 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $56,614,000 after buying an additional 28,715 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Principal Financial Group Inc. boosted its stake in Spire by 1.9% during the fourth quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 173,374 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $11,760,000 after buying an additional 3,163 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 87.36% of the company’s stock.

Spire Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:SR opened at $74.70 on Monday. The company has a market capitalization of $4.41 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.09, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.82 and a beta of 0.65. The company’s 50-day moving average is $75.95 and its 200 day moving average is $72.40. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.21, a quick ratio of 0.37 and a current ratio of 0.50. Spire has a fifty-two week low of $57.77 and a fifty-two week high of $79.81.

Spire (NYSE:SR) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, April 30th. The utilities provider reported $3.60 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.70 by ($0.10). Spire had a net margin of 9.70% and a return on equity of 7.88%. The company had revenue of $1.05 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.15 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $3.45 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was down 6.8% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Spire will post 4.5 earnings per share for the current year.

Spire Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, July 2nd. Investors of record on Friday, April 11th will be issued a dividend of $0.785 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, June 11th. This represents a $3.14 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.20%. Spire’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 77.34%.

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.