Spire Inc. (NYSE:SR) Receives Consensus Rating of “Moderate Buy” from Analysts

Spire Inc. (NYSE:SR) has been assigned a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” from the eleven research firms that are covering the firm, Marketbeat reports. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, five have given a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. The average 1 year price target among brokerages that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $96.2222.

A number of research analysts have recently commented on the stock. Wolfe Research assumed coverage on shares of Spire in a research note on Tuesday, May 26th. They set a “peer perform” rating for the company. Wells Fargo & Company assumed coverage on shares of Spire in a research report on Monday, May 11th. They issued an “overweight” rating and a $96.00 target price on the stock. Morgan Stanley set a $96.00 price target on shares of Spire in a research report on Thursday, May 21st. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Spire in a research note on Wednesday, June 17th. Finally, TD Cowen began coverage on shares of Spire in a report on Thursday, April 16th. They issued a “hold” rating and a $101.00 price target on the stock.

Spire Price Performance

SR stock opened at $75.96 on Tuesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $4.49 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.35, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.72 and a beta of 0.52. The company has a quick ratio of 0.48, a current ratio of 0.55 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.69. Spire has a 52-week low of $71.24 and a 52-week high of $95.31. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $85.55 and its 200-day simple moving average is $86.50.

Spire (NYSE:SR) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, May 6th. The utilities provider reported $3.76 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.72 by $0.04. Spire had a return on equity of 9.49% and a net margin of 13.97%.The firm had revenue of $1.02 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.07 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $3.60 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 4.5% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts expect that Spire will post 4.01 EPS for the current year.

Spire Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, July 2nd. Investors of record on Thursday, June 11th will be issued a $0.825 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, June 11th. This represents a $3.30 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.3%. Spire’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 58.00%.

Insider Transactions at Spire

In other news, Director Paul D. Koonce purchased 500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, June 11th. The stock was bought at an average cost of $78.46 per share, for a total transaction of $39,230.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the director directly owned 8,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $627,680. The trade was a 6.67% increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, SVP Ryan L. Hyman sold 3,822 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, June 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $80.51, for a total value of $307,709.22. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president owned 14,295 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,150,890.45. This trade represents a 21.10% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. In the last three months, insiders have acquired 3,000 shares of company stock valued at $251,100. 2.26% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Pacer Advisors Inc. raised its stake in shares of Spire by 19.7% in the 1st quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 8,453 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $765,000 after acquiring an additional 1,393 shares during the period. Empowered Funds LLC boosted its position in shares of Spire by 26.7% in the first quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 2,292 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $208,000 after buying an additional 483 shares during the period. Edgestream Partners L.P. boosted its position in shares of Spire by 226.5% in the first quarter. Edgestream Partners L.P. now owns 125,465 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $11,360,000 after buying an additional 87,036 shares during the period. Amundi grew its stake in shares of Spire by 231.1% in the first quarter. Amundi now owns 10,624 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $962,000 after buying an additional 7,415 shares in the last quarter. Finally, EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of Spire by 51.7% during the 1st quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 2,692 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $244,000 after buying an additional 917 shares during the period. 87.36% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

About Spire

Spire Inc (NYSE: SR), formerly known as The Laclede Group, is a regulated natural gas distribution company headquartered in St. Louis, Missouri. Through its three operating divisions—Spire Missouri, Spire Alabama and Spire Mississippi—the company delivers natural gas to more than 1.7 million residential, commercial and industrial customers. Spire’s service territory spans key markets in the central and southern United States, including metropolitan St. Louis, central Alabama and central Mississippi.

Founded in 1857 as the Laclede Gas Light Company, the business has grown through strategic acquisitions, notably Alabama Gas Corporation in 2013 and Mississippi Gas in 2016.