Spire Inc. (NYSE:SR) Given Consensus Recommendation of “Hold” by Analysts

Shares of Spire Inc. (NYSE:SR) have been given an average recommendation of “Hold” by the nine analysts that are presently covering the stock, Marketbeat Ratings reports. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating on the company. The average 12 month price target among brokers that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $71.50.

A number of equities analysts have recently commented on SR shares. Bank of America started coverage on shares of Spire in a research report on Friday, December 13th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $70.00 target price on the stock. Janney Montgomery Scott started coverage on shares of Spire in a research report on Tuesday, December 17th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $73.00 target price on the stock. Morgan Stanley cut their price objective on shares of Spire from $77.00 to $75.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, November 22nd. Mizuho raised shares of Spire from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and lifted their price objective for the company from $65.00 to $76.00 in a report on Friday, December 20th. Finally, StockNews.com lowered shares of Spire from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Friday.

Spire Stock Up 0.8 %

Shares of NYSE SR opened at $73.95 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $4.31 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.91, a PEG ratio of 2.76 and a beta of 0.58. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $68.98 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $67.22. Spire has a 1 year low of $57.27 and a 1 year high of $74.50. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.21, a current ratio of 0.50 and a quick ratio of 0.30.

Spire (NYSE:SR) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, February 5th. The utilities provider reported $1.34 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.42 by ($0.08). Spire had a return on equity of 7.88% and a net margin of 9.70%. Research analysts anticipate that Spire will post 4.51 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. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, March 11th will be issued a $0.785 dividend. This represents a $3.14 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.25%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, March 11th. Spire’s dividend payout ratio is currently 76.03%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Spire news, Treasurer Adam W. Woodard sold 1,150 shares of Spire stock in a transaction on Friday, December 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $67.47, for a total value of $77,590.50. Following the transaction, the treasurer now directly owns 2,587 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $174,544.89. The trade was a 30.77 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director Paul D. Koonce acquired 1,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, December 2nd. The shares were bought at an average price 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 of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $178,504.25. This trade represents a 70.18 % increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Corporate insiders own 2.33% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Spire

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Spire by 0.8% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 6,168,221 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $418,390,000 after buying an additional 46,434 shares during the period. State Street Corp lifted its stake in shares of Spire by 1.4% during the third 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 lifted its stake in shares of Spire by 5.5% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,385,452 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $93,244,000 after buying an additional 71,798 shares during the period. Wellington Management Group LLP lifted its position in Spire by 29.0% during the fourth quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 1,022,870 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $69,381,000 after purchasing an additional 229,662 shares during the period. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its position in Spire by 1.6% during the fourth quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,002,938 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $68,028,000 after purchasing an additional 15,835 shares during the period. 87.36% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.