Wolfe Research Initiates Coverage on Spire (NYSE:SR)

Research analysts at Wolfe Research started coverage on shares of Spire (NYSE:SR) in a research note issued to investors on Tuesday. The brokerage set a “peer perform” rating on the utilities provider’s stock.

SR has been the topic of several other reports. TD Cowen initiated coverage on Spire in a report on Thursday, April 16th. They issued a “hold” rating and a $101.00 target price on the stock. Stifel Nicolaus upped their price objective on Spire from $81.00 to $87.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 28th. UBS Group cut their target price on shares of Spire from $106.00 to $103.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Friday, May 8th. Wells Fargo & Company started coverage on shares of Spire in a research note on Monday, May 11th. They set an “overweight” rating and a $96.00 price target on the stock. Finally, Wall Street Zen cut shares of Spire from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Saturday, May 9th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, six have assigned a Buy rating and four have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $94.90.

Spire Price Performance

Shares of SR stock traded down $0.68 on Tuesday, hitting $86.31. 96,602 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 379,761. The firm has a market cap of $5.10 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.17, a PEG ratio of 1.81 and a beta of 0.56. Spire has a 52 week low of $71.24 and a 52 week high of $95.31. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $90.07 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $87.50. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.69, a current ratio of 0.55 and a quick ratio of 0.48.

Spire (NYSE:SR) last announced its quarterly earnings data 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 business had revenue of $1.02 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.07 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $3.60 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 4.5% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Spire will post 4 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Transactions at Spire

In other Spire news, Director Paul D. Koonce acquired 2,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, May 8th. The shares were bought at an average price of $85.81 per share, with a total value of $171,620.00. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 7,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $600,670. The trade was a 40.00% increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. 2.26% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Spire

A number of hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in SR. Edgestream Partners L.P. raised its stake in shares of Spire by 226.5% during the first quarter. Edgestream Partners L.P. now owns 125,465 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $11,360,000 after acquiring an additional 87,036 shares in the last quarter. Amundi increased its holdings in Spire by 231.1% during the 1st quarter. Amundi now owns 10,624 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $962,000 after purchasing an additional 7,415 shares during the period. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC raised its position in 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 purchasing an additional 917 shares in the last quarter. California State Teachers Retirement System lifted its holdings in shares of Spire by 20.1% in the 1st quarter. California State Teachers Retirement System now owns 66,491 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $6,020,000 after buying an additional 11,120 shares during the period. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada grew its position in shares of Spire by 1.2% during the 1st quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 16,282 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,475,000 after buying an additional 193 shares in the last quarter. 87.36% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Spire Company Profile

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.