Spire Inc. (NYSE:SR) Declares Quarterly Dividend of $3.14

Spire Inc. (NYSE:SR) announced a quarterly dividend on Thursday, November 14th,RTT News reports. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, December 11th will be paid a dividend of 3.14 per share by the utilities provider on Friday, January 3rd. This represents a $12.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 19.04%. This is a boost from Spire’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.76.

Spire has increased its dividend by an average of 5.0% per year over the last three years and has increased its dividend every year for the last 21 years. Spire has a dividend payout ratio of 66.2% meaning its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities analysts expect Spire to earn $4.52 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $3.02 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 66.8%.

Spire Trading Up 0.4 %

NYSE SR opened at $65.96 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $3.81 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.86, a P/E/G ratio of 2.90 and a beta of 0.52. Spire has a 52 week low of $56.36 and a 52 week high of $68.02. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $65.46 and a 200-day moving average price of $63.51. The company has a quick ratio of 0.35, a current ratio of 0.48 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.11.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Spire news, VP Gerard J. Gorla sold 500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, August 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $64.82, for a total value of $32,410.00. Following the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 7,311 shares in the company, valued at $473,899.02. This represents a 6.40 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. 2.86% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts recently issued reports on the company. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on Spire from $72.00 to $73.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 16th. Morgan Stanley upped their price target on Spire from $70.00 to $76.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday, September 25th. Stifel Nicolaus upped their price target on Spire from $64.00 to $70.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, August 1st. Finally, LADENBURG THALM/SH SH downgraded 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 report on Thursday, October 17th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating and one has issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Spire presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $66.19.

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.