Spire Inc. (NYSE:SR) Plans Dividend Increase – $3.14 Per Share

Spire Inc. (NYSE:SR) declared a quarterly dividend on Thursday, November 14th,RTT News reports. Investors of record on Wednesday, December 11th will be paid a dividend of 3.14 per share by the utilities provider on Friday, January 3rd. This represents a $12.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 18.74%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, December 11th. This is an increase from Spire’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.76.

Spire has increased its dividend by an average of 5.0% annually over the last three years and has raised its dividend annually for the last 21 consecutive years. Spire has a dividend payout ratio of 66.2% meaning its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities analysts expect Spire to earn $4.52 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $3.02 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 66.8%.

Spire Stock Up 1.7 %

Shares of SR opened at $67.01 on Friday. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $65.46 and its 200-day simple moving average is $63.53. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.11, a quick ratio of 0.35 and a current ratio of 0.48. Spire has a 1 year low of $56.36 and a 1 year high of $68.02. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.87 billion, a PE ratio of 16.11, a P/E/G ratio of 2.90 and a beta of 0.52.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have commented on SR. Morgan Stanley raised their price target on shares of Spire from $70.00 to $76.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, September 25th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on Spire from $72.00 to $73.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 16th. LADENBURG THALM/SH SH cut Spire from a “neutral” rating to a “sell” rating and lowered their target price for the stock from $65.50 to $60.50 in a research note on Thursday, October 17th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus increased their price target on Spire from $64.00 to $70.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 1st. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating and one has given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Spire currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $66.19.

Insider Transactions at Spire

In other Spire news, VP Gerard J. Gorla sold 500 shares of the firm’s 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 transaction, the vice president now owns 7,311 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $473,899.02. This trade represents a 6.40 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 2.86% of the company’s stock.

Spire Company Profile

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.