Spire Inc. (NYSE:SR) Receives $74.00 Consensus Target Price from Brokerages

Spire Inc. (NYSE:SR) has been given a consensus recommendation of “Hold” by the nine research firms that are covering the company, MarketBeat Ratings reports. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and three have issued a buy recommendation on the company. The average 1 year target price among analysts that have covered the stock in the last year is $74.00.

A number of equities analysts have weighed in on the stock. LADENBURG THALM/SH SH upgraded shares of Spire from a “sell” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $83.00 price target for the company in a research report on Wednesday, February 26th. Bank of America began coverage on shares of Spire in a report on Friday, December 13th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $70.00 target price for the company. 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. Janney Montgomery Scott assumed coverage on Spire in a research note on Tuesday, December 17th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $73.00 price objective for the company. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on Spire from $73.00 to $75.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 21st.

Insider Buying and Selling at Spire

In other news, Treasurer Adam W. Woodard sold 1,150 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, December 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $67.47, for a total value of $77,590.50. Following the sale, the treasurer now directly owns 2,587 shares in the company, valued at $174,544.89. The trade was a 30.77 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. 2.33% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Meeder Asset Management Inc. purchased a new stake in Spire during the third quarter valued at approximately $25,000. Golden State Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Spire during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $27,000. GAMMA Investing LLC raised its holdings in Spire by 87.2% during the 4th quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 438 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $30,000 after buying an additional 204 shares during the period. Lee Danner & Bass Inc. bought a new stake in Spire in the fourth quarter worth $32,000. Finally, Larson Financial Group LLC boosted its stake in Spire by 1,318.4% during the third quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC now owns 539 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $36,000 after buying an additional 501 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 87.36% of the company’s stock.

Spire Price Performance

NYSE SR opened at $76.39 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.21, a quick ratio of 0.37 and a current ratio of 0.50. The business’s fifty day moving average is $71.54 and its 200 day moving average is $68.41. The company has a market capitalization of $4.46 billion, a PE ratio of 18.50, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.82 and a beta of 0.53. Spire has a fifty-two week low of $57.27 and a fifty-two week high of $78.80.

Spire (NYSE:SR) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 5th. The utilities provider reported $1.34 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.42 by ($0.08). Spire had a net margin of 9.70% and a return on equity of 7.88%. Sell-side analysts predict that Spire will post 4.5 earnings per share for the current year.

Spire Cuts Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 2nd. Investors of record on Tuesday, March 11th will be paid a dividend of $0.785 per share. This represents a $3.14 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.11%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, March 11th. Spire’s payout ratio is presently 76.03%.

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.