Spire Inc. (NYSE:SR) Given Consensus Recommendation of "Hold" by Analysts

Spire Inc. (NYSE:SR - Get Free Report) has earned an average recommendation of "Hold" from the ten research firms that are currently covering the stock, MarketBeat.com reports. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, five have assigned a hold recommendation, three have assigned a buy recommendation and one has assigned a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average 1-year target price among analysts that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $77.40.

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. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price target 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. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Spire from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Friday, May 9th. LADENBURG THALM/SH SH raised shares of Spire to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note on Friday, May 9th. Finally, Mizuho boosted their price target on shares of Spire from $76.00 to $82.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 19th.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Spire

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in SR. Nuveen LLC bought a new stake in shares of Spire in the 1st quarter worth approximately $73,254,000. Vaughan Nelson Investment Management L.P. bought a new stake in Spire during the 1st quarter valued at $69,889,000. Norges Bank bought a new stake in Spire during the 4th quarter valued at $42,432,000. Zimmer Partners LP bought a new stake in Spire during the 4th quarter valued at $30,083,000. Finally, Adage Capital Partners GP L.L.C. bought a new stake in Spire during the 1st quarter valued at $30,322,000. 87.36% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Spire Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:SR opened at $73.93 on Tuesday. The company has a 50 day moving average of $74.10 and a 200 day moving average of $73.53. The stock has a market cap of $4.36 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.21, a P/E/G ratio of 2.52 and a beta of 0.62. Spire has a 12 month low of $58.64 and a 12 month high of $79.81. The company has a current ratio of 0.43, a quick ratio of 0.34 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.03.

Spire (NYSE:SR - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 30th. The utilities provider reported $3.60 EPS 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 analysts' expectations of $1.15 billion. Spire had a net margin of 10.22% and a return on equity of 8.49%. Spire's revenue was down 6.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $3.45 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Spire will post 4.5 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Spire Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, July 2nd. Stockholders 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 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.25%. Spire's payout ratio is 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.

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