Spire (NYSE:SR) Upgraded by StockNews.com to “Hold” Rating

StockNews.com upgraded shares of Spire (NYSE:SR) from a sell rating to a hold rating in a research note issued to investors on Saturday.

A number of other brokerages have also recently issued reports on SR. Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on shares of Spire from $73.00 to $75.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 21st. Janney Montgomery Scott began coverage on shares of Spire in a report on Tuesday, December 17th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $73.00 price objective for the company. Stifel Nicolaus reduced their target price on Spire from $70.00 to $69.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, November 22nd. Mizuho raised Spire from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and raised their price target for the company from $65.00 to $76.00 in a report on Friday, December 20th. Finally, UBS Group boosted their price objective on Spire from $75.00 to $80.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 21st. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Spire has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $71.50.

Spire Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:SR opened at $65.67 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.24, a current ratio of 0.45 and a quick ratio of 0.30. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $68.10 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $65.92. Spire has a fifty-two week low of $56.36 and a fifty-two week high of $73.64. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.80 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.24, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.00 and a beta of 0.57.

Spire Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, January 3rd. Investors of record on Wednesday, December 11th were given a $3.14 dividend. This represents a $12.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 19.13%. This is a positive change from Spire’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.76. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, December 11th. Spire’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 72.85%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Spire

In other Spire news, Director Paul D. Koonce purchased 1,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, December 2nd. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $73.61 per share, with a total value of $73,610.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the director now directly owns 2,425 shares in the company, valued at approximately $178,504.25. This represents a 70.18 % increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Treasurer Adam W. Woodard sold 1,150 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, December 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $67.47, for a total transaction of $77,590.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the treasurer now directly owns 2,587 shares in the company, valued at approximately $174,544.89. The trade was a 30.77 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 2.33% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Spire

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. State Street Corp grew its position in shares of Spire by 1.4% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 3,154,230 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $214,535,000 after buying an additional 44,969 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in Spire by 5.5% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,385,452 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $93,244,000 after purchasing an additional 71,798 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its stake in Spire by 8.3% in the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 944,387 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $57,351,000 after purchasing an additional 72,119 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its stake in Spire by 4.7% in the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 805,932 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $54,231,000 after purchasing an additional 36,214 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Thrivent Financial for Lutherans raised its holdings in Spire by 0.3% in the third quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans now owns 646,206 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $43,483,000 after purchasing an additional 1,681 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 87.36% of the company’s stock.

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.