Spire Inc. (NYSE:SR) Receives Average Rating of “Hold” from Brokerages

Spire Inc. (NYSE:SR) has been assigned an average rating of “Hold” from the eleven brokerages that are currently covering the stock, Marketbeat Ratings reports. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, three have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. The average 1 year price objective among brokerages that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $75.64.

SR has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Guggenheim upped their target price on Spire from $67.00 to $72.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 1st. LADENBURG THALM/SH SH raised Spire to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Monday, March 17th. Mizuho lifted their target price on Spire from $76.00 to $82.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 19th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised shares of Spire from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and increased their price target for the company from $72.00 to $85.00 in a research report on Thursday, March 20th. Finally, Bank of America assumed coverage on shares of Spire in a research report on Friday, December 13th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $70.00 price objective on the stock.

Spire Price Performance

SR opened at $75.89 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $4.43 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.37, a PEG ratio of 2.82 and a beta of 0.56. The company has a current ratio of 0.50, a quick ratio of 0.37 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.21. Spire has a 12-month low of $57.27 and a 12-month high of $79.81. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $75.04 and its 200-day simple moving average is $70.00.

Spire (NYSE:SR) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, February 5th. The utilities provider reported $1.34 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate 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 research analysts anticipate that Spire will post 4.5 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Spire Cuts Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, April 2nd. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, March 11th were paid a dividend of $0.785 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, March 11th. This represents a $3.14 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.14%. Spire’s payout ratio is currently 76.03%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of SR. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in Spire in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $42,432,000. Captrust Financial Advisors acquired a new stake in Spire during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $39,228,000. Zimmer Partners LP purchased a new stake in shares of Spire in the 4th quarter valued at $30,083,000. Wellington Management Group LLP increased its stake in shares of Spire by 29.0% in the fourth quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 1,022,870 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $69,381,000 after acquiring an additional 229,662 shares during the period. Finally, Sourcerock Group LLC purchased a new position in shares of Spire during the fourth quarter worth $12,567,000. 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.