Spire Inc. (NYSE:SR) Receives $62.50 Average Target Price from Brokerages

Shares of Spire Inc. (NYSE:SR) have been given an average rating of “Hold” by the eight analysts that are currently covering the company, Marketbeat reports. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating and one has issued a buy rating on the company. The average 1 year price target among brokers that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $62.50.

A number of research analysts recently commented on the company. Morgan Stanley decreased their price target on Spire from $67.00 to $64.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, June 24th. Stifel Nicolaus raised their target price on shares of Spire from $64.00 to $70.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, August 1st.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, VP Gerard J. Gorla sold 500 shares of Spire stock in a transaction dated Thursday, August 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $64.82, for a total transaction of $32,410.00. Following the sale, the vice president now directly owns 7,311 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $473,899.02. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. In related news, VP Gerard J. Gorla sold 500 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, August 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $64.82, for a total value of $32,410.00. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now directly owns 7,311 shares in the company, valued at $473,899.02. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Director Maria V. Fogarty sold 6,590 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, August 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $65.15, for a total value of $429,338.50. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 9,800 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $638,470. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 2.86% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Spire

Several institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Blue Trust Inc. increased its holdings in Spire by 26.8% in the second quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 761 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $47,000 after purchasing an additional 161 shares in the last quarter. Securian Asset Management Inc. increased its stake in shares of Spire by 3.8% in the 1st quarter. Securian Asset Management Inc. now owns 4,521 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $277,000 after acquiring an additional 166 shares in the last quarter. Congress Asset Management Co. MA boosted its stake in Spire by 0.3% during the fourth quarter. Congress Asset Management Co. MA now owns 64,144 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $3,999,000 after acquiring an additional 167 shares in the last quarter. State of Alaska Department of Revenue grew its holdings in Spire by 4.8% in the first quarter. State of Alaska Department of Revenue now owns 5,958 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $365,000 after purchasing an additional 275 shares during the period. Finally, Jones Financial Companies Lllp increased its stake in Spire by 30.2% in the fourth quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp now owns 1,349 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $84,000 after purchasing an additional 313 shares in the last quarter. 87.36% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Spire Stock Performance

NYSE SR opened at $66.28 on Wednesday. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $64.90 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $61.90. Spire has a 12-month low of $53.77 and a 12-month high of $68.02. The company has a market capitalization of $3.83 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.74, a P/E/G ratio of 3.06 and a beta of 0.52. The company has a quick ratio of 0.35, a current ratio of 0.48 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.11.

Spire (NYSE:SR) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 31st. The utilities provider reported ($0.14) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($0.18) by $0.04. Spire had a return on equity of 8.10% and a net margin of 9.40%. The business had revenue of $414.10 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $313.86 million. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted ($0.42) earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 1.1% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts anticipate that Spire will post 4.23 earnings per share for the current year.

Spire Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, October 2nd. Investors of record on Wednesday, September 11th will be issued a dividend of $0.755 per share. This represents a $3.02 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.56%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, September 11th. Spire’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 76.26%.

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.