Spire (NYSE:SR) Upgraded by StockNews.com to "Hold" Rating

StockNews.com upgraded shares of Spire (NYSE:SR - Free Report) from a sell rating to a hold rating in a research note published on Friday morning.

Other analysts also recently issued reports about the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upgraded Spire from a "neutral" rating to an "overweight" rating and raised their price target for the stock from $72.00 to $85.00 in a research report on Thursday, March 20th. Mizuho raised their price target on Spire from $76.00 to $82.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 19th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on Spire from $75.00 to $82.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. LADENBURG THALM/SH SH upgraded shares of Spire to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Monday, March 17th. Finally, Guggenheim upped their price target on shares of Spire from $67.00 to $72.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a report on Tuesday, April 1st. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, three have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $77.40.

Spire Price Performance

SR traded down $2.47 during trading on Friday, reaching $72.19. 334,433 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 389,705. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $76.45 and a 200 day simple moving average of $71.94. Spire has a 12-month low of $57.77 and a 12-month high of $79.81. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.21, a quick ratio of 0.37 and a current ratio of 0.50. The company has a market cap of $4.26 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.48, a PEG ratio of 2.82 and a beta of 0.65.

Spire (NYSE:SR - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, April 30th. The utilities provider reported $3.60 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $3.70 by ($0.10). Spire had a net margin of 9.70% and a return on equity of 7.88%. The business had revenue of $1.05 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $1.15 billion. During the same period last year, the business posted $3.45 earnings per share. The company's revenue for the quarter was down 6.8% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts forecast that Spire will post 4.5 EPS for the current year.

Spire Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, July 2nd. Investors of record on Friday, April 11th will be issued a $0.785 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, June 11th. This represents a $3.14 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.35%. Spire's payout ratio is currently 77.34%.

Institutional Trading of Spire

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in SR. Cornerstone Wealth Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Spire by 1.7% during the first quarter. Cornerstone Wealth Management LLC now owns 7,870 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $616,000 after acquiring an additional 133 shares during the last quarter. UMB Bank n.a. grew its stake in shares of Spire by 3.2% during the first quarter. UMB Bank n.a. now owns 4,915 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $385,000 after acquiring an additional 151 shares during the last quarter. Blair William & Co. IL grew its stake in shares of Spire by 2.6% during the fourth quarter. Blair William & Co. IL now owns 6,027 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $409,000 after acquiring an additional 152 shares during the last quarter. Signaturefd LLC grew its stake in shares of Spire by 21.7% during the first quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 914 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $72,000 after acquiring an additional 163 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Mackenzie Financial Corp grew its stake in shares of Spire by 5.5% during the first quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp now owns 3,672 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $287,000 after acquiring an additional 193 shares during the last quarter. 87.36% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.