Spire Inc. (NYSE:SR) Given Average Rating of “Hold” by Analysts

Spire Inc. (NYSE:SR) has earned a consensus rating of “Hold” from the seven brokerages that are covering the firm, Marketbeat.com reports. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, five have assigned a hold recommendation and one has issued a buy recommendation on the company. The average 1 year price objective among analysts that have covered the stock in the last year is $69.93.

Several research firms recently commented on SR. Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on Spire from $73.00 to $75.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 21st. Stifel Nicolaus cut their price objective on shares of Spire from $70.00 to $69.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, November 22nd. UBS Group increased their target price on shares of Spire from $75.00 to $80.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 21st. Morgan Stanley dropped their price target on shares of Spire from $77.00 to $75.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, November 22nd. Finally, Mizuho increased their price objective on shares of Spire from $62.00 to $65.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, November 19th.

Institutional Trading of Spire

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in SR. Manning & Napier Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Spire in the 2nd quarter valued at $2,233,000. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC purchased a new stake in Spire during the third quarter valued at about $787,000. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. boosted its holdings in shares of Spire by 197.4% in the second quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 162,195 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $9,850,000 after buying an additional 107,662 shares during the period. Cynosure Group LLC purchased a new position in shares of Spire in the third quarter worth approximately $4,067,000. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Spire by 1.2% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 5,626,863 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $345,321,000 after acquiring an additional 65,486 shares during the period. 87.36% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Spire Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:SR opened at $73.19 on Monday. The company has a current ratio of 0.45, a quick ratio of 0.30 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.24. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $66.49 and its two-hundred day moving average is $64.26. The firm has a market capitalization of $4.23 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.98, a PEG ratio of 3.24 and a beta of 0.52. Spire has a 52 week low of $56.36 and a 52 week high of $73.64.

Spire Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, January 3rd. Investors of record on Wednesday, December 11th will be issued a $3.14 dividend. This is an increase from Spire’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.76. This represents a $12.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 17.16%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, December 11th. Spire’s payout ratio is presently 70.07%.

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.