Wells Fargo & Company Raises Spire (NYSE:SR) Price Target to $66.00

Spire (NYSE:SR) had its price objective raised by Wells Fargo & Company from $64.00 to $66.00 in a research report report published on Thursday morning, Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has an equal weight rating on the utilities provider’s stock.

Other equities analysts have also issued research reports about the company. Royal Bank of Canada reissued a sector perform rating and set a $65.00 price objective on shares of Spire in a research note on Tuesday, April 16th. Mizuho lowered shares of Spire from a buy rating to a neutral rating and dropped their price objective for the company from $64.00 to $62.00 in a report on Thursday. LADENBURG THALM/SH SH started coverage on shares of Spire in a research report on Friday, April 26th. They set a neutral rating and a $57.50 price objective for the company. Finally, UBS Group started coverage on shares of Spire in a report on Friday, April 12th. They issued a buy rating and a $68.00 target price on the stock. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and one has issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of Hold and a consensus target price of $61.72.

Spire Stock Down 0.6 %

Shares of SR opened at $61.31 on Thursday. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $60.22 and a 200 day moving average price of $60.11. Spire has a one year low of $53.77 and a one year high of $69.99. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.09, a quick ratio of 0.43 and a current ratio of 0.61. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.54 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.48, a PEG ratio of 2.82 and a beta of 0.50.

Spire (NYSE:SR) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, May 1st. The utilities provider reported $3.45 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $3.86 by ($0.41). The business had revenue of $1.13 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.21 billion. Spire had a return on equity of 7.88% and a net margin of 9.05%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up .5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm earned $3.70 EPS. Equities research analysts forecast that Spire will post 4.34 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Spire Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, July 2nd. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, June 11th will be issued a dividend of $0.755 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, June 11th. This represents a $3.02 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.93%. Spire’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 76.26%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Spire

In related news, insider Joseph B. Hampton sold 1,294 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 sale, the insider now directly owns 6,768 shares in the company, valued at $393,423.84. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. In related news, insider Joseph B. Hampton sold 1,294 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $58.13, for a total value of $75,220.22. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 6,768 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $393,423.84. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, Treasurer Adam W. Woodard sold 1,229 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $59.58, for a total value of $73,223.82. Following the completion of the transaction, the treasurer now directly owns 1,560 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $92,944.80. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 2.86% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Spire

Several hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in SR. Csenge Advisory Group lifted its holdings in shares of Spire by 14.2% in the 1st quarter. Csenge Advisory Group now owns 6,216 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $381,000 after purchasing an additional 775 shares during the last quarter. Fidelis Capital Partners LLC purchased a new stake in Spire in the first quarter valued at approximately $37,000. Capstone Investment Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Spire in the first quarter valued at approximately $563,000. Private Advisor Group LLC purchased a new position in shares of Spire during the first quarter worth approximately $451,000. Finally, Retirement Systems of Alabama increased its holdings in shares of Spire by 4.8% in the 1st quarter. Retirement Systems of Alabama now owns 69,045 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $4,237,000 after acquiring an additional 3,163 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 87.36% of the company’s stock.

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.