Spire Inc. (NYSE:SR) Receives $77.40 Average Target Price from Analysts

Shares of Spire Inc. (NYSE:SR) have been assigned a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the ten ratings firms that are presently covering the firm, MarketBeat.com reports. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation, three have issued a buy recommendation and one has given a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average twelve-month price target among brokerages that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $77.40.

A number of brokerages have issued reports on SR. Mizuho raised their target price on Spire from $76.00 to $82.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, March 19th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised shares of Spire from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and lifted their price objective for the stock from $72.00 to $85.00 in a research note on Thursday, March 20th. Morgan Stanley upped their target price on shares of Spire from $75.00 to $78.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 20th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Spire from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, May 9th. Finally, Guggenheim boosted their price target on shares of Spire from $67.00 to $72.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 1st.

Spire Trading Down 1.3%

SR opened at $74.19 on Monday. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $76.01 and a 200 day simple moving average of $72.33. Spire has a fifty-two week low of $57.77 and a fifty-two week high of $79.81. The company has a market cap of $4.38 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.96, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.82 and a beta of 0.65. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.21, a current ratio of 0.50 and a quick ratio of 0.37.

Spire (NYSE:SR) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, April 30th. The utilities provider reported $3.60 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.70 by ($0.10). The business had revenue of $1.05 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.15 billion. Spire had a return on equity of 7.88% and a net margin of 9.70%. Spire’s revenue was down 6.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $3.45 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Spire will post 4.5 earnings per share for the current year.

Spire Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, July 2nd. Stockholders of record on Friday, April 11th will be issued a $0.785 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, June 11th. This represents a $3.14 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.23%. Spire’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 77.34%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Spire

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of SR. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. grew its stake in shares of Spire by 2,602.5% during the 1st quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. now owns 1,081 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $85,000 after acquiring an additional 1,041 shares in the last quarter. Intech Investment Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Spire by 75.6% in the 1st quarter. Intech Investment Management LLC now owns 49,923 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $3,906,000 after acquiring an additional 21,495 shares in the last quarter. Jane Street Group LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Spire in the first quarter valued at about $9,636,000. Bayforest Capital Ltd raised its holdings in Spire by 2,648.0% during the first quarter. Bayforest Capital Ltd now owns 687 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $54,000 after acquiring an additional 662 shares in the last quarter. Finally, UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Spire by 10.0% in the 1st quarter. UBS AM A Distinct Business Unit of UBS Asset Management Americas LLC now owns 212,438 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $16,623,000 after buying an additional 19,373 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.