Spire Inc. (NYSE:SR) Given Average Recommendation of “Hold” by Brokerages

Spire Inc. (NYSE:SR) has been assigned a consensus recommendation of “Hold” from the ten brokerages that are covering the stock, Marketbeat Ratings reports. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell recommendation, four have given a hold recommendation, three have issued a buy recommendation and one has given a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average 1 year price objective among brokers that have covered the stock in the last year is $79.20.

A number of research analysts have issued reports on SR shares. LADENBURG THALM/SH SH raised Spire to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Friday, May 9th. Bank of America reaffirmed an “underperform” rating and set a $76.00 target price (down from $81.00) on shares of Spire in a report on Friday, August 15th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price target on shares of Spire from $85.00 to $83.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, May 28th. Stifel Nicolaus set a $81.00 price target on shares of Spire and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 15th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on shares of Spire from $75.00 to $82.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 1st.

Spire Price Performance

NYSE:SR opened at $76.47 on Wednesday. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $75.09 and its two-hundred day moving average is $75.26. The firm has a market cap of $4.51 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.52, a PEG ratio of 2.50 and a beta of 0.66. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.08, a quick ratio of 0.27 and a current ratio of 0.37. Spire has a one year low of $61.56 and a one year high of $79.81.

Spire (NYSE:SR) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, August 5th. The utilities provider reported $0.01 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($0.09) by $0.10. Spire had a return on equity of 8.66% and a net margin of 11.56%.The business had revenue of $421.90 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $417.27 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted ($0.14) EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 1.9% on a year-over-year basis. Spire has set its FY 2025 guidance at 4.400-4.60 EPS. Research analysts expect that Spire will post 4.5 EPS for the current year.

Spire Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, October 2nd. Investors of record on Thursday, September 11th will be paid a $0.785 dividend. This represents a $3.14 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.1%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, September 11th. Spire’s payout ratio is currently 67.82%.

Institutional Trading of Spire

Several institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Headlands Technologies LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Spire in the second quarter valued at approximately $38,000. CANADA LIFE ASSURANCE Co grew its stake in Spire by 4.1% in the 2nd quarter. CANADA LIFE ASSURANCE Co now owns 79,381 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $5,801,000 after acquiring an additional 3,090 shares during the period. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC increased its holdings in Spire by 80.3% in the 2nd quarter. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC now owns 6,431 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $469,000 after acquiring an additional 2,865 shares in the last quarter. Corient Private Wealth LLC acquired a new position in Spire during the second quarter worth $400,000. Finally, State of Tennessee Department of Treasury raised its position in Spire by 198.2% during the second quarter. State of Tennessee Department of Treasury now owns 29,530 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $2,155,000 after acquiring an additional 19,627 shares during the period. 87.36% of the stock is 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.