Spire (NYSE:SR) Reaches New 12-Month High – Here’s Why

Spire Inc. (NYSE:SR) shares hit a new 52-week high during trading on Tuesday . The company traded as high as $87.42 and last traded at $87.33, with a volume of 373235 shares. The stock had previously closed at $85.35.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

SR has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Stifel Nicolaus set a $81.00 price objective on shares of Spire and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 15th. Morgan Stanley dropped their price target on Spire from $81.00 to $76.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, September 25th. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of Spire in a research report on Wednesday, October 8th. UBS Group increased their target price on Spire from $80.00 to $95.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, October 13th. Finally, Bank of America reaffirmed an “underperform” rating and issued a $76.00 price target (down from $81.00) on shares of Spire in a report on Friday, August 15th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, four have given a Buy rating, five have issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $81.36.

Spire Trading Up 2.3%

The stock has a market capitalization of $5.15 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.86, a PEG ratio of 2.48 and a beta of 0.69. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.08, a current ratio of 0.37 and a quick ratio of 0.27. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $78.67 and its 200-day simple moving average is $76.15.

Spire (NYSE:SR) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, August 5th. The utilities provider reported $0.01 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($0.09) by $0.10. Spire had a net margin of 11.56% and a return on equity of 8.66%. The company had revenue of $421.90 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $417.27 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted ($0.14) EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 1.9% compared to the same quarter last year. Spire has set its FY 2025 guidance at 4.400-4.60 EPS. As a group, analysts forecast that Spire Inc. will post 4.5 EPS for the current year.

Spire Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, October 2nd. Shareholders of record on Thursday, September 11th were issued a dividend of $0.785 per share. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, September 11th. This represents a $3.14 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.6%. Spire’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 67.82%.

Institutional Trading of Spire

A number of hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of SR. Golden State Wealth Management LLC grew its holdings in Spire by 103.8% during the first quarter. Golden State Wealth Management LLC now owns 803 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $63,000 after purchasing an additional 409 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Spire by 2.6% in the 1st quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 177,950 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $13,925,000 after buying an additional 4,576 shares during the period. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC grew its holdings in shares of Spire by 16.9% in the 1st quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC now owns 5,833 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $456,000 after buying an additional 844 shares during the period. KBC Group NV increased its position in shares of Spire by 27.4% in the 1st quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 2,938 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $230,000 after buying an additional 631 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Blue Trust Inc. raised its stake in Spire by 20.5% during the 1st quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 1,305 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $102,000 after buying an additional 222 shares during the period. 87.36% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.