Paul Koonce Acquires 500 Shares of Spire (NYSE:SR) Stock

Spire Inc. (NYSE:SR) Director Paul Koonce bought 500 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, June 11th. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $78.46 per share, for a total transaction of $39,230.00. Following the acquisition, the director owned 8,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $627,680. This trade represents a 6.67% increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link.

Spire Stock Up 1.6%

SR stock opened at $79.11 on Friday. Spire Inc. has a fifty-two week low of $71.24 and a fifty-two week high of $95.31. The business’s 50-day moving average is $87.48 and its two-hundred day moving average is $86.92. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.69, a quick ratio of 0.48 and a current ratio of 0.55. The company has a market cap of $4.68 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 13.90, a P/E/G ratio of 1.77 and a beta of 0.52.

Spire (NYSE:SR) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, May 6th. The utilities provider reported $3.76 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.72 by $0.04. Spire had a return on equity of 9.49% and a net margin of 13.97%.The company had revenue of $1.02 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.07 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $3.60 earnings per share. Spire’s revenue was up 4.5% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts forecast that Spire Inc. will post 4.01 earnings per share for the current year.

Spire Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, July 2nd. Shareholders of record on Thursday, June 11th will be given 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 4.2%. Spire’s dividend payout ratio is presently 58.00%.

Institutional Trading of Spire

Institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Elo Mutual Pension Insurance Co purchased a new stake in shares of Spire during the third quarter worth about $1,414,000. William Blair Investment Management LLC grew its position in shares of Spire by 30.8% during the third quarter. William Blair Investment Management LLC now owns 374,050 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $30,493,000 after purchasing an additional 88,154 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in shares of Spire by 0.3% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 6,430,368 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $531,791,000 after purchasing an additional 19,326 shares in the last quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA grew its position in shares of Spire by 10.7% during the fourth quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 594,240 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $49,144,000 after purchasing an additional 57,487 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Captrust Financial Advisors grew its position in shares of Spire by 7.5% during the third quarter. Captrust Financial Advisors now owns 1,220,171 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $99,468,000 after purchasing an additional 85,004 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 87.36% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts have commented on SR shares. Wolfe Research started coverage on Spire in a research report on Tuesday, May 26th. They issued a “peer perform” rating for the company. Wall Street Zen cut Spire from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Saturday, May 9th. UBS Group lowered their price target on shares of Spire from $106.00 to $103.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, May 8th. Wells Fargo & Company began coverage on shares of Spire in a research report on Monday, May 11th. They issued an “overweight” rating and a $96.00 price target for the company. Finally, TD Cowen began coverage on shares of Spire in a research report on Thursday, April 16th. They issued a “hold” rating and a $101.00 price target for the company. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, five have given a Buy rating and four have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $96.22.

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.