Spire (NYSE:SR) Director Paul Koonce Acquires 500 Shares of Stock

Spire Inc. (NYSE:SR) Director Paul Koonce acquired 500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, June 1st. The shares were bought at an average cost of $80.50 per share, with a total value of $40,250.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director owned 7,500 shares in the company, valued at approximately $603,750. This represents a 7.14% increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink.

Spire Trading Down 0.0%

Shares of SR opened at $81.07 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.69, a current ratio of 0.55 and a quick ratio of 0.48. Spire Inc. has a 1 year low of $71.24 and a 1 year high of $95.31. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $88.76 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $87.16. The firm has a market cap of $4.79 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.25, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.81 and a beta of 0.52.

Spire (NYSE:SR) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, May 6th. The utilities provider reported $3.76 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.72 by $0.04. Spire had a net margin of 13.97% and a return on equity of 9.49%. The business had revenue of $1.02 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.07 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $3.60 EPS. The company’s revenue was up 4.5% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts expect that Spire Inc. will post 4.01 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Spire Announces Dividend

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

Institutional Trading of Spire

A number of institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Franklin Resources Inc. increased its position in shares of Spire by 0.3% during the fourth quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 40,489 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $3,348,000 after purchasing an additional 122 shares in the last quarter. Detalus Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of Spire by 2.3% during the first quarter. Detalus Advisors LLC now owns 6,200 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $561,000 after purchasing an additional 142 shares in the last quarter. Inspire Investing LLC increased its position in shares of Spire by 2.6% during the fourth quarter. Inspire Investing LLC now owns 5,734 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $474,000 after purchasing an additional 144 shares in the last quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC increased its position in shares of Spire by 40.3% during the fourth quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 519 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $43,000 after purchasing an additional 149 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Parallel Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of Spire by 16.5% during the fourth quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC now owns 1,136 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $94,000 after purchasing an additional 161 shares in the last quarter. 87.36% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts have recently commented on the company. TD Cowen assumed coverage on Spire in a research report on Thursday, April 16th. They set a “hold” rating and a $101.00 target price for the company. Wall Street Zen downgraded Spire from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Saturday, May 9th. Morgan Stanley set a $96.00 target price on Spire in a research report on Thursday, May 21st. UBS Group lowered their target price on Spire from $106.00 to $103.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, May 8th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company assumed coverage on Spire in a research report on Monday, May 11th. They set an “overweight” rating and a $96.00 target price for the company. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, five have assigned a Buy rating and four have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $96.22.

Spire Company Profile

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.