Spire Inc. (NYSE:SR) Receives $81.36 Average Price Target from Brokerages

Shares of Spire Inc. (NYSE:SR) have been assigned an average rating of “Moderate Buy” from the twelve research firms that are currently covering the firm, MarketBeat Ratings reports. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating, four have given a buy rating and two have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. The average 12-month target price among brokers that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $81.3636.

Several equities research analysts recently commented on SR shares. Jefferies Financial Group upgraded Spire to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 7th. Weiss Ratings reissued a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of Spire in a research note on Wednesday, October 8th. Morgan Stanley lowered their target price on Spire from $81.00 to $76.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, September 25th. UBS Group increased their target price on Spire from $80.00 to $95.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Monday, October 13th. Finally, Bank of America restated an “underperform” rating and set a $76.00 price target (down previously from $81.00) on shares of Spire in a research note on Friday, August 15th.

Spire Stock Up 0.7%

Shares of Spire stock opened at $85.47 on Thursday. Spire has a one year low of $61.87 and a one year high of $86.31. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.08, a current ratio of 0.37 and a quick ratio of 0.27. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $78.45 and its 200 day moving average is $76.09. The firm has a market cap of $5.04 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.46, a PEG ratio of 2.48 and a beta of 0.69.

Spire (NYSE:SR) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, August 5th. The utilities provider reported $0.01 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($0.09) by $0.10. Spire had a return on equity of 8.66% and a net margin of 11.56%.The company had revenue of $421.90 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $417.27 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned ($0.14) EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 1.9% compared to the same quarter last year. Spire has set its FY 2025 guidance at 4.400-4.60 EPS. Equities research analysts anticipate that Spire will post 4.5 EPS for the current year.

Spire Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, October 2nd. Shareholders of record on Thursday, September 11th were paid a dividend of $0.785 per share. This represents a $3.14 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.7%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, September 11th. Spire’s payout ratio is 67.82%.

Institutional Trading of Spire

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Hantz Financial Services Inc. raised its stake in shares of Spire by 1,957.1% in the second quarter. Hantz Financial Services Inc. now owns 432 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $32,000 after purchasing an additional 411 shares during the last quarter. Headlands Technologies LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Spire in the second quarter worth approximately $38,000. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. raised its stake in shares of Spire by 1,031.5% in the second quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. now owns 611 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $45,000 after purchasing an additional 557 shares during the last quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Spire in the second quarter worth approximately $48,000. Finally, Quarry LP purchased a new stake in shares of Spire in the first quarter worth approximately $50,000. 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.