Spire Inc. (NYSE:SR) Receives $77.20 Average Price Target from Brokerages

Shares of Spire Inc. (NYSE:SR - Get Free Report) have been assigned an average recommendation of "Moderate Buy" from the ten ratings firms that are currently covering the firm, Marketbeat.com reports. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, three have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating on the company. The average 1-year price target among brokerages that have covered the stock in the last year is $77.20.

SR has been the subject of a number of research reports. Guggenheim boosted their price target on shares of Spire from $67.00 to $72.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 1st. Mizuho upped their price objective on shares of Spire from $76.00 to $82.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 19th. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Spire from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Friday, May 9th. Morgan Stanley upped their price objective 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. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price objective on shares of Spire from $85.00 to $83.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, May 28th.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Spire

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in SR. Golden State Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in Spire during the 4th quarter valued at $27,000. Van ECK Associates Corp raised its holdings in Spire by 4.3% during the 4th quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 16,292 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $1,105,000 after buying an additional 675 shares during the last quarter. C2P Capital Advisory Group LLC d.b.a. Prosperity Capital Advisors bought a new stake in Spire during the 4th quarter valued at $204,000. Rhumbline Advisers raised its holdings in Spire by 0.7% during the 4th quarter. Rhumbline Advisers now owns 207,601 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $14,082,000 after buying an additional 1,441 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Congress Asset Management Co. raised its holdings in Spire by 6.2% in the 4th quarter. Congress Asset Management Co. now owns 64,097 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $4,348,000 after purchasing an additional 3,758 shares in the last quarter. 87.36% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Spire Price Performance

SR stock traded down $0.20 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $72.06. The company had a trading volume of 337,266 shares, compared to its average volume of 402,603. 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 has a 1 year low of $58.09 and a 1 year high of $79.81. The company has a market capitalization of $4.25 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.45, a P/E/G ratio of 2.82 and a beta of 0.63. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $75.03 and a 200-day moving average price of $73.13.

Spire (NYSE:SR - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly 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). Spire had a return on equity of 7.88% and a net margin of 9.70%. The company had revenue of $1.05 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $1.15 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $3.45 EPS. Spire's quarterly revenue was down 6.8% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts anticipate that Spire will post 4.5 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Spire Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, July 2nd. Investors of record on Friday, April 11th will be issued a dividend of $0.785 per share. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, June 11th. This represents a $3.14 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.36%. Spire's dividend payout ratio is currently 77.34%.

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.