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

Shares of Spire Inc. (NYSE:SR) have earned a consensus recommendation of “Hold” from the nine brokerages that are presently covering the stock, MarketBeat reports. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the company. The average 1-year target price among analysts that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $74.00.

A number of research analysts recently commented on the company. LADENBURG THALM/SH SH raised Spire from a “sell” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $83.00 price target for the company in a research note on Wednesday, February 26th. Stifel Nicolaus dropped their price target on Spire from $70.00 to $69.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, November 22nd. Janney Montgomery Scott initiated coverage on Spire in a research note on Tuesday, December 17th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $73.00 price target for the company. StockNews.com downgraded Spire from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Friday, February 14th. Finally, Mizuho raised Spire from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and boosted their target price for the stock from $65.00 to $76.00 in a research note on Friday, December 20th.

Insider Transactions at Spire

In other news, Treasurer Adam W. Woodard sold 1,150 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, December 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $67.47, for a total transaction of $77,590.50. Following the sale, the treasurer now directly owns 2,587 shares in the company, valued at approximately $174,544.89. The trade was a 30.77 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Company insiders own 2.33% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Spire

Several institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in SR. Creative Planning boosted its holdings in Spire by 2.7% in the third quarter. Creative Planning now owns 7,126 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $480,000 after acquiring an additional 190 shares during the last quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC boosted its holdings in Spire by 17.4% in the third quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC now owns 4,174 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $281,000 after acquiring an additional 619 shares during the last quarter. State of Alaska Department of Revenue boosted its holdings in Spire by 7.2% in the third quarter. State of Alaska Department of Revenue now owns 6,733 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $453,000 after acquiring an additional 455 shares during the last quarter. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in Spire by 4.7% in the third quarter. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC now owns 11,756 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $800,000 after acquiring an additional 531 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Chicago Partners Investment Group LLC bought a new stake in Spire in the third quarter valued at approximately $206,000. 87.36% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Spire Stock Up 0.6 %

SR opened at $76.39 on Wednesday. Spire has a fifty-two week low of $57.27 and a fifty-two week high of $78.80. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.21, a quick ratio of 0.37 and a current ratio of 0.50. The company has a market capitalization of $4.46 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.50, a P/E/G ratio of 2.82 and a beta of 0.53. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $71.54 and a 200-day moving average of $68.46.

Spire (NYSE:SR) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, February 5th. The utilities provider reported $1.34 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.42 by ($0.08). Spire had a return on equity of 7.88% and a net margin of 9.70%. On average, equities analysts expect that Spire will post 4.5 EPS for the current year.

Spire Cuts Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 2nd. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, March 11th will be issued a dividend of $0.785 per share. This represents a $3.14 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.11%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, March 11th. Spire’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 76.03%.

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.