Spire Inc. (NYSE:SR) Receives Consensus Recommendation of “Hold” from Analysts

Shares of Spire Inc. (NYSE:SR) have been given an average rating of “Hold” by the seven ratings firms that are currently covering the company, MarketBeat Ratings reports. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, four have given a hold recommendation and two have assigned a buy recommendation to the company. The average 1 year target price among brokers that have covered the stock in the last year is $62.25.

A number of equities research analysts recently issued reports on SR shares. UBS Group started coverage on Spire in a research note on Friday. They issued a “buy” rating and a $68.00 price objective on the stock. Mizuho lowered their price objective on Spire from $66.00 to $64.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, January 22nd.

Insider Buying and Selling at Spire

In other Spire news, Treasurer Adam W. Woodard sold 1,229 shares of Spire stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $59.58, for a total transaction of $73,223.82. Following the completion of the transaction, the treasurer now owns 1,560 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $92,944.80. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. In other news, Treasurer Adam W. Woodard sold 1,229 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $59.58, for a total transaction of $73,223.82. Following the completion of the transaction, the treasurer now owns 1,560 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $92,944.80. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, insider Joseph B. Hampton sold 1,294 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $58.13, for a total value of $75,220.22. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 6,768 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $393,423.84. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 2.86% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of SR. Fifth Third Bancorp lifted its position in Spire by 81.9% in the 3rd quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp now owns 644 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $36,000 after buying an additional 290 shares during the last quarter. Quarry LP lifted its position in Spire by 817.5% in the second quarter. Quarry LP now owns 578 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $37,000 after purchasing an additional 515 shares during the last quarter. Cohen & Steers Inc. lifted its position in Spire by 31.8% in the first quarter. Cohen & Steers Inc. now owns 639 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $46,000 after purchasing an additional 154 shares during the last quarter. Signaturefd LLC lifted its position in Spire by 34.4% in the fourth quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 887 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $55,000 after purchasing an additional 227 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Qube Research & Technologies Ltd bought a new stake in Spire in the third quarter valued at approximately $65,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 87.36% of the company’s stock.

Spire Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:SR opened at $58.66 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $3.23 billion, a PE ratio of 15.81, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.70 and a beta of 0.51. Spire has a 1-year low of $53.77 and a 1-year high of $70.60. The company has a current ratio of 0.55, a quick ratio of 0.43 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.16. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $59.67 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $59.71.

Spire (NYSE:SR) last released its earnings results on Thursday, February 1st. The utilities provider reported $1.47 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.37 by $0.10. The company had revenue of $756.60 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $688.88 million. Spire had a return on equity of 8.27% and a net margin of 8.11%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 7.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $1.55 EPS. As a group, analysts forecast that Spire will post 4.35 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Spire Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, April 2nd. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 11th were issued a dividend of $0.755 per share. This represents a $3.02 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 5.15%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, March 8th. Spire’s payout ratio is presently 81.40%.

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.