Spire Inc. (SR) To Go Ex-Dividend on March 11th

Spire Inc. (NYSE:SR) declared a quarterly dividend on Thursday, January 30th,RTT News reports. Investors of record on Tuesday, March 11th will be given a dividend of 0.785 per share by the utilities provider on Wednesday, April 2nd. This represents a $3.14 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.42%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, March 11th.

Spire has increased its dividend by an average of 5.0% annually over the last three years and has raised its dividend every year for the last 21 years. Spire has a dividend payout ratio of 63.4% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Research analysts expect Spire to earn $4.88 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $3.14 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 64.3%.

Spire Trading Down 0.9 %

Shares of Spire stock opened at $70.99 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $4.10 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.47, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.65 and a beta of 0.57. Spire has a 52-week low of $56.36 and a 52-week high of $73.64. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $69.05 and its 200-day simple moving average is $66.85. The company has a quick ratio of 0.30, a current ratio of 0.45 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.24.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Spire news, Treasurer Adam W. Woodard sold 1,150 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 owns 2,587 shares in the company, valued at approximately $174,544.89. This represents a 30.77 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director Paul D. Koonce bought 1,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, December 2nd. The shares were bought at an average cost of $73.61 per share, with a total value of $73,610.00. Following the purchase, the director now directly owns 2,425 shares in the company, valued at approximately $178,504.25. This trade represents a 70.18 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. 2.33% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts have recently commented on the company. Janney Montgomery Scott began coverage on Spire in a research note on Tuesday, December 17th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $73.00 price target on the stock. Morgan Stanley reduced their price objective on Spire from $77.00 to $75.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, November 22nd. LADENBURG THALM/SH SH downgraded shares of Spire from a “neutral” rating to a “sell” rating and cut their target price for the company from $65.50 to $60.50 in a research note on Thursday, October 17th. UBS Group raised their target price on shares of Spire from $75.00 to $80.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 21st. Finally, Mizuho upgraded Spire from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and increased their target price for the stock from $65.00 to $76.00 in a research report on Friday, December 20th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Spire has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $71.50.

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.