Spire Inc. Plans Quarterly Dividend of $0.76 (NYSE:SR)

Spire Inc. (NYSE:SR) announced a quarterly dividend on Thursday, July 25th, Zacks reports. Investors of record on Wednesday, September 11th will be paid a dividend of 0.755 per share by the utilities provider on Wednesday, October 2nd. This represents a $3.02 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.46%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, September 11th.

Spire has raised 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 payout ratio of 65.9% meaning its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Analysts expect Spire to earn $4.56 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 66.2%.

Spire Stock Up 1.0 %

Spire stock opened at $67.77 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.91 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.11, a P/E/G ratio of 3.11 and a beta of 0.51. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $61.12 and a 200 day simple moving average of $60.39. Spire has a 1-year low of $53.77 and a 1-year high of $68.02. The company has a current ratio of 0.61, a quick ratio of 0.48 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.09.

Spire (NYSE:SR) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, May 1st. The utilities provider reported $3.45 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $3.86 by ($0.41). Spire had a net margin of 9.05% and a return on equity of 7.88%. The company had revenue of $1.13 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.21 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $3.70 earnings per share. Spire’s revenue for the quarter was up .5% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts predict that Spire will post 4.32 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity

In other news, EVP Steven P. Rasche bought 4,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, June 13th. The stock was bought at an average price of $23.83 per share, for a total transaction of $107,235.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 16,500 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $393,195. The acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 2.86% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts recently commented on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on shares of Spire from $64.00 to $66.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 2nd. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated a “sector perform” rating and issued a $65.00 price objective on shares of Spire in a research report on Tuesday, April 16th. LADENBURG THALM/SH SH assumed coverage on Spire in a research note on Friday, April 26th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $57.50 price objective for the company. StockNews.com upgraded Spire from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, May 3rd. Finally, Morgan Stanley dropped their price target on Spire from $67.00 to $64.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, June 24th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and one has issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Spire presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $61.83.

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.