Analysts Set Spire Inc. (NYSE:SR) Price Target at $77.40

Shares of Spire Inc. (NYSE:SR - Get Free Report) have received a consensus rating of "Hold" from the ten ratings firms that are presently covering the company, Marketbeat Ratings reports. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating, three have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating on the company. The average 12-month price target among brokers that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $77.40.

Several research analysts have recently weighed in on SR shares. Mizuho increased their price target on Spire from $76.00 to $82.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 19th. LADENBURG THALM/SH SH upgraded Spire to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Friday, May 9th. Morgan Stanley reissued an "underperform" rating on shares of Spire in a report on Wednesday, June 18th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on Spire from $75.00 to $82.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Finally, Guggenheim increased their price objective on Spire from $67.00 to $72.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a report on Tuesday, April 1st.

Spire Stock Performance

NYSE:SR traded down $0.13 during trading on Tuesday, reaching $74.43. The company's stock had a trading volume of 502,377 shares, compared to its average volume of 409,132. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.03, a quick ratio of 0.34 and a current ratio of 0.43. The firm has a market cap of $4.39 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.33, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.52 and a beta of 0.62. Spire has a 12 month low of $60.27 and a 12 month high of $79.81. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $73.84 and a 200-day moving average of $73.69.

Spire (NYSE:SR - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 30th. The utilities provider reported $3.60 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $3.70 by ($0.10). The firm had revenue of $1.05 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.15 billion. Spire had a return on equity of 8.49% and a net margin of 10.22%. The firm's revenue was down 6.8% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $3.45 EPS. Research analysts expect that Spire will post 4.5 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Spire Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, July 2nd. Shareholders of record on Friday, April 11th were issued a $0.785 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, June 11th. This represents a $3.14 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.22%. Spire's payout ratio is currently 77.34%.

Institutional Trading of Spire

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. Nuveen LLC bought a new position in shares of Spire during the 1st quarter valued at about $73,254,000. Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. bought a new position in shares of Spire during the 1st quarter valued at about $69,889,000. Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of Spire in the 4th quarter worth approximately $42,432,000. Zimmer Partners LP bought a new stake in shares of Spire in the 4th quarter worth approximately $30,083,000. Finally, Adage Capital Partners GP L.L.C. bought a new stake in shares of Spire in the 1st quarter worth approximately $30,322,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 87.36% of the company's stock.

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.