Spire Inc. (NYSE:SR) Receives Consensus Recommendation of "Hold" from Brokerages

Key Points

• Spire Inc. has received a consensus rating of "Hold" from ten brokerages, with one sell recommendation, five holds, three buys, and one strong buy.
• The company's most recent quarterly earnings showed a miss on EPS estimates, reporting $3.60 against a consensus of $3.70, and a revenue of $1.05 billion, down 6.8% from the previous year.
• Spire has declared a quarterly dividend of $0.785 per share, resulting in an annualized yield of 4.2% and indicating a payout ratio of 77.34%.

Spire Inc. (NYSE:SR - Get Free Report) has earned a consensus rating of "Hold" from the ten brokerages that are presently covering the company, MarketBeat reports. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, five have given a hold recommendation, three have issued a buy recommendation and one has assigned a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average 12 month price target among analysts that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $78.60.

Several brokerages recently issued reports on SR. LADENBURG THALM/SH SH upgraded shares of Spire to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Friday, May 9th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price objective on shares of Spire from $85.00 to $83.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, May 28th. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Spire from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Friday, May 9th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on shares of Spire from $75.00 to $82.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a report on Thursday, May 1st. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus set a $81.00 price objective on shares of Spire and gave the stock a "hold" rating in a report on Tuesday, July 15th.

Spire Price Performance

Shares of NYSE SR opened at $74.27 on Friday. Spire has a 1 year low of $61.56 and a 1 year high of $79.81. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.03, a current ratio of 0.43 and a quick ratio of 0.34. The company's 50-day moving average is $74.29 and its 200 day moving average is $74.56. The stock has a market capitalization of $4.38 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.29, a P/E/G ratio of 2.33 and a beta of 0.62.

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

Spire Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, October 2nd. Stockholders of record on Thursday, September 11th will be issued a dividend of $0.785 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, September 11th. This represents a $3.14 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.2%. Spire's dividend payout ratio is presently 77.34%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Spire

A number of institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Quarry LP bought a new position in Spire during the first quarter valued at approximately $50,000. Bayforest Capital Ltd lifted its position in Spire by 2,648.0% during the first quarter. Bayforest Capital Ltd now owns 687 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $54,000 after purchasing an additional 662 shares during the period. GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its position in Spire by 66.0% during the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 727 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $57,000 after purchasing an additional 289 shares during the period. State of Wyoming bought a new position in Spire during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $52,000. Finally, Parallel Advisors LLC lifted its position in Spire by 75.2% during the second quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC now owns 785 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $57,000 after purchasing an additional 337 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 87.36% of the company's stock.

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.

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