Spire (NYSE:SR) Price Target Raised to $82.00

Spire (NYSE:SR) had its price target hoisted by Wells Fargo & Company from $75.00 to $82.00 in a report published on Thursday,Benzinga reports. They currently have an equal weight rating on the utilities provider’s stock.

SR has been the topic of several other research reports. Morgan Stanley raised their price objective on Spire from $75.00 to $78.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, March 20th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upgraded Spire from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and boosted their price target for the stock from $72.00 to $85.00 in a report on Thursday, March 20th. LADENBURG THALM/SH SH upgraded shares of Spire to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Monday, March 17th. Guggenheim lifted their target price on shares of Spire from $67.00 to $72.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 1st. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded shares of Spire from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Thursday, April 3rd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating, three have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Spire presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $77.40.

Spire Stock Performance

Spire stock opened at $76.41 on Thursday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.37, a current ratio of 0.50 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.21. The stock has a market cap of $4.46 billion, a PE ratio of 18.50, a P/E/G ratio of 2.82 and a beta of 0.56. Spire has a 12-month low of $57.77 and a 12-month high of $79.81. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $76.56 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $71.55.

Spire (NYSE:SR) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 30th. The utilities provider reported $3.60 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $3.70 by ($0.10). The company had revenue of $1.05 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.15 billion. Spire had a net margin of 9.70% and a return on equity of 7.88%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 6.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm posted $3.45 earnings per share. As a group, analysts expect that Spire will post 4.5 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Spire Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, July 2nd. Investors of record on Friday, April 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 is Wednesday, June 11th. Spire’s dividend payout ratio is presently 76.03%.

Institutional Trading of Spire

A number of large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Cornerstone Wealth Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Spire by 1.7% during the 1st quarter. Cornerstone Wealth Management LLC now owns 7,870 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $616,000 after purchasing an additional 133 shares in the last quarter. UMB Bank n.a. boosted its holdings in shares of Spire by 3.2% during the 1st quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 4,915 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $385,000 after buying an additional 151 shares in the last quarter. Blair William & Co. IL grew its position in shares of Spire by 2.6% during the 4th quarter. Blair William & Co. IL now owns 6,027 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $409,000 after buying an additional 152 shares during the period. Signaturefd LLC grew its position in shares of Spire by 21.7% during the 1st quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 914 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $72,000 after buying an additional 163 shares during the period. Finally, Gamco Investors INC. ET AL increased its stake in shares of Spire by 2.3% in the 4th quarter. Gamco Investors INC. ET AL now owns 9,050 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $614,000 after acquiring an additional 200 shares in the last quarter. 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.