Spire Inc. (NYSE:SR) Receives $71.50 Average PT from Brokerages

Shares of Spire Inc. (NYSE:SR) have received a consensus recommendation of “Hold” from the nine research firms that are covering the firm, MarketBeat Ratings reports. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating and two have given a buy rating to the company. The average twelve-month target price among brokerages that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $71.50.

SR has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. StockNews.com upgraded shares of Spire from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, January 11th. UBS Group lifted their price target on shares of Spire from $75.00 to $80.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 21st. LADENBURG THALM/SH SH downgraded shares of Spire from a “neutral” rating to a “sell” rating and decreased their price target for the stock from $65.50 to $60.50 in a research note on Thursday, October 17th. Mizuho upgraded shares of Spire from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and lifted their price target for the stock from $65.00 to $76.00 in a research note on Friday, December 20th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus decreased their price target on shares of Spire from $70.00 to $69.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, November 22nd.

Spire Trading Up 1.6 %

NYSE SR opened at $68.67 on Tuesday. Spire has a one year low of $56.36 and a one year high of $73.64. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $68.42 and a 200-day simple moving average of $66.09. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.24, a quick ratio of 0.30 and a current ratio of 0.45. The firm has a market cap of $3.97 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.93, a PEG ratio of 2.50 and a beta of 0.57.

Spire Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, January 3rd. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, December 11th were issued a $3.14 dividend. This represents a $12.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 18.29%. This is a boost from Spire’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.76. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, December 11th. Spire’s payout ratio is presently 72.85%.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Paul D. Koonce acquired 1,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, December 2nd. The shares were bought at an average cost of $73.61 per share, with a total value of $73,610.00. Following the purchase, the director now owns 2,425 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $178,504.25. This represents a 70.18 % increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, Treasurer Adam W. Woodard sold 1,150 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, December 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $67.47, for a total transaction of $77,590.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the treasurer now directly owns 2,587 shares in the company, valued at $174,544.89. This represents a 30.77 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 2.33% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Spire

Several institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Wedge Capital Management L L P NC acquired a new position in Spire in the 4th quarter valued at $3,241,000. Hennessy Advisors Inc. boosted its position in shares of Spire by 2.6% during the 4th quarter. Hennessy Advisors Inc. now owns 63,641 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $4,317,000 after purchasing an additional 1,600 shares in the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. purchased a new stake in shares of Spire during the 4th quarter worth $8,277,000. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. boosted its position in shares of Spire by 4.6% during the 4th quarter. Harbor Capital Advisors Inc. now owns 24,915 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,690,000 after purchasing an additional 1,097 shares in the last quarter. Finally, CWA Asset Management Group LLC boosted its position in shares of Spire by 14.8% during the 4th quarter. CWA Asset Management Group LLC now owns 6,509 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $441,000 after purchasing an additional 841 shares in the last quarter. 87.36% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.