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

Shares of Spire Inc. (NYSE:SR) have been assigned a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the eleven research firms that are currently covering the stock, Marketbeat.com reports. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation, five have given a buy recommendation and two have assigned a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average twelve-month price objective among analysts that have covered the stock in the last year is $96.2222.

Several equities research analysts recently issued reports on SR shares. Wolfe Research started coverage on Spire in a research note on Tuesday, May 26th. They issued a “peer perform” rating for the company. TD Cowen initiated coverage on Spire in a research note on Thursday, April 16th. They set a “hold” rating and a $101.00 price target for the company. Wall Street Zen downgraded Spire from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Saturday, May 9th. UBS Group cut their price target on Spire from $106.00 to $103.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, May 8th. Finally, Weiss Ratings raised Spire from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a research note on Thursday, February 5th.

Spire Stock Performance

SR stock opened at $81.07 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 0.55, a quick ratio of 0.48 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.69. The firm has a market cap of $4.79 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.25, a P/E/G ratio of 1.81 and a beta of 0.52. Spire has a 12-month low of $71.24 and a 12-month high of $95.31. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $88.76 and its 200 day simple moving average is $87.16.

Spire (NYSE:SR) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, May 6th. The utilities provider reported $3.76 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.72 by $0.04. The business had revenue of $1.02 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.07 billion. Spire had a return on equity of 9.49% and a net margin of 13.97%.The business’s revenue was up 4.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $3.60 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Spire will post 4.01 EPS for the current year.

Spire Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, July 2nd. Stockholders of record on Thursday, June 11th will be given a $0.825 dividend. This represents a $3.30 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.1%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, June 11th. Spire’s dividend payout ratio is currently 58.00%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, Director Paul D. Koonce purchased 500 shares of Spire stock in a transaction on Monday, June 1st. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $80.50 per share, with a total value of $40,250.00. Following the acquisition, the director directly owned 7,500 shares in the company, valued at approximately $603,750. This trade represents a 7.14% increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. 2.26% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Spire

Several institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of SR. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC increased its position in shares of Spire by 10.0% during the first quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC now owns 212,438 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $16,623,000 after purchasing an additional 19,373 shares during the period. Jane Street Group LLC bought a new stake in shares of Spire during the first quarter valued at approximately $9,636,000. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. increased its position in shares of Spire by 1,031.5% during the second quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. now owns 611 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $45,000 after purchasing an additional 557 shares during the period. M&T Bank Corp increased its position in shares of Spire by 75.8% during the second quarter. M&T Bank Corp now owns 4,658 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $340,000 after purchasing an additional 2,009 shares during the period. Finally, Invesco Ltd. increased its position in shares of Spire by 1.5% during the second quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 585,919 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $42,766,000 after purchasing an additional 8,726 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 87.36% of the company’s stock.

About Spire

Spire Inc (NYSE: SR), formerly known as The Laclede Group, is a regulated natural gas distribution company headquartered in St. Louis, Missouri. Through its three operating divisions—Spire Missouri, Spire Alabama and Spire Mississippi—the company delivers natural gas to more than 1.7 million residential, commercial and industrial customers. Spire’s service territory spans key markets in the central and southern United States, including metropolitan St. Louis, central Alabama and central Mississippi.

Founded in 1857 as the Laclede Gas Light Company, the business has grown through strategic acquisitions, notably Alabama Gas Corporation in 2013 and Mississippi Gas in 2016.