Spire (NYSE:SR) Issues Earnings Results

Spire (NYSE:SR) issued its earnings results on Wednesday. The utilities provider reported ($0.14) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.18) by $0.04, Briefing.com reports. The business had revenue of $414.10 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $313.86 million. Spire had a net margin of 9.05% and a return on equity of 7.88%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 1.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted ($0.42) EPS. Spire updated its FY24 guidance to $4.15-4.25 EPS and its FY 2024 guidance to 4.150-4.250 EPS.

Spire Stock Down 0.8 %

Shares of NYSE:SR traded down $0.56 during trading on Thursday, reaching $66.03. 103,850 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 433,661. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $61.39 and a 200 day simple moving average of $60.52. The firm has a market cap of $3.81 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.52, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.13 and a beta of 0.51. Spire has a 1-year low of $53.77 and a 1-year high of $68.02. The company has a quick ratio of 0.48, a current ratio of 0.61 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.09.

Spire Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, October 2nd. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, September 11th will be paid a dividend of $0.755 per share. This represents a $3.02 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.57%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, September 10th. Spire’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 76.26%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on SR. Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price on shares of Spire from $64.00 to $66.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 2nd. Mizuho cut shares of Spire from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and decreased their target price for the stock from $64.00 to $62.00 in a research report on Thursday, May 2nd. Morgan Stanley decreased their target price on shares of Spire from $67.00 to $64.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, June 24th. LADENBURG THALM/SH SH assumed coverage on shares of Spire in a report on Friday, April 26th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $57.50 price objective for the company. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded shares of Spire from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, May 3rd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating and one has given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Spire has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $62.50.

Insider Buying and Selling at Spire

In other Spire news, EVP Steven P. Rasche acquired 4,500 shares of Spire stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, June 13th. The stock was acquired at an average price of $23.83 per share, with a total value of $107,235.00. Following the purchase, the executive vice president now owns 16,500 shares in the company, valued at $393,195. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Company insiders own 2.86% of the company’s stock.

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.