UBS Group Begins Coverage on Spire (NYSE:SR)

UBS Group started coverage on shares of Spire (NYSE:SR) in a report released on Friday morning, MarketBeat.com reports. The brokerage issued a buy rating and a $68.00 price target on the utilities provider’s stock.

Separately, Mizuho lowered their price target on shares of Spire from $66.00 to $64.00 and set a buy rating for the company in a report on Monday, January 22nd. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of Hold and an average target price of $62.25.

Spire Stock Performance

Shares of Spire stock opened at $58.66 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.16, a current ratio of 0.55 and a quick ratio of 0.43. The firm has a market cap of $3.23 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.81, a P/E/G ratio of 2.70 and a beta of 0.51. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $59.67 and a 200 day simple moving average of $59.75. Spire has a fifty-two week low of $53.77 and a fifty-two week high of $70.60.

Spire (NYSE:SR) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 1st. The utilities provider reported $1.47 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.37 by $0.10. The business had revenue of $756.60 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $688.88 million. Spire had a net margin of 8.11% and a return on equity of 8.27%. Spire’s revenue for the quarter was down 7.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $1.55 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts predict that Spire will post 4.35 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Spire Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, April 2nd. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 11th were issued a dividend of $0.755 per share. This represents a $3.02 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 5.15%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, March 8th. Spire’s dividend payout ratio is presently 81.40%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Treasurer Adam W. Woodard sold 1,229 shares of Spire stock in a transaction on Friday, March 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $59.58, for a total transaction of $73,223.82. Following the transaction, the treasurer now directly owns 1,560 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $92,944.80. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. In other news, insider Joseph B. Hampton sold 1,294 shares of Spire stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $58.13, for a total transaction of $75,220.22. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 6,768 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $393,423.84. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Treasurer Adam W. Woodard sold 1,229 shares of Spire stock in a transaction on Friday, March 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $59.58, for a total transaction of $73,223.82. Following the transaction, the treasurer now directly owns 1,560 shares in the company, valued at $92,944.80. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 2.86% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Spire

Several institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. BlackRock Inc. lifted its position in Spire by 5.9% in the 2nd quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 7,152,053 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $453,726,000 after acquiring an additional 396,807 shares in the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. lifted its position in Spire by 0.8% in the 3rd quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 6,968,088 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $394,254,000 after acquiring an additional 52,893 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in Spire by 0.6% during the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 5,583,880 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $315,936,000 after buying an additional 36,022 shares in the last quarter. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC lifted its position in Spire by 70,596.2% during the 4th quarter. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC now owns 4,264,392 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $293,646,000 after buying an additional 4,258,360 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Fuller & Thaler Asset Management Inc. lifted its position in Spire by 126.0% during the 3rd quarter. Fuller & Thaler Asset Management Inc. now owns 3,501,638 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $198,123,000 after buying an additional 1,951,969 shares in the last quarter. 87.36% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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.