Spire (NYSE:SR) Upgraded at StockNews.com

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

A number of other equities analysts also recently issued reports on SR. Royal Bank of Canada reissued a sector perform rating and set a $65.00 target price on shares of Spire in a research note on Tuesday, April 16th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on Spire from $64.00 to $66.00 and gave the company an equal weight rating in a research note on Thursday, May 2nd. LADENBURG THALM/SH SH assumed coverage on Spire in a research note on Friday, April 26th. They issued a neutral rating and a $57.50 price objective for the company. Mizuho downgraded Spire from a buy rating to a neutral rating and dropped their price objective for the company from $64.00 to $62.00 in a research note on Thursday, May 2nd. Finally, UBS Group assumed coverage on Spire in a research note on Friday, April 12th. They issued a buy rating and a $68.00 price objective for the company. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and one has given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of Hold and a consensus price target of $61.72.

Spire Stock Down 0.2 %

SR opened at $61.17 on Friday. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $60.28 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $60.14. The company has a quick ratio of 0.48, a current ratio of 0.61 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.09. The company has a market cap of $3.53 billion, a PE ratio of 15.45, a P/E/G ratio of 2.83 and a beta of 0.50. Spire has a 52 week low of $53.77 and a 52 week high of $69.99.

Spire (NYSE:SR) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, May 1st. The utilities provider reported $3.45 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $3.86 by ($0.41). The company had revenue of $1.13 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.21 billion. Spire had a net margin of 9.05% and a return on equity of 7.88%. The firm’s revenue was up .5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $3.70 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Spire will post 4.34 EPS for the current year.

Spire Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, July 2nd. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, June 11th will be issued a dividend of $0.755 per share. This represents a $3.02 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.94%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, June 11th. Spire’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 76.26%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Spire

In other Spire news, insider Joseph B. Hampton sold 1,294 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $58.13, for a total transaction of $75,220.22. Following the sale, the insider now owns 6,768 shares in the company, valued at approximately $393,423.84. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. In other news, insider Joseph B. Hampton sold 1,294 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $58.13, for a total transaction of $75,220.22. Following the sale, the insider now owns 6,768 shares in the company, valued at $393,423.84. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Treasurer Adam W. Woodard sold 1,229 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, March 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $59.58, for a total value of $73,223.82. Following the sale, the treasurer now owns 1,560 shares in the company, valued at approximately $92,944.80. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 2.86% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Spire

Several hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Fuller & Thaler Asset Management Inc. grew its position in Spire by 126.0% during the third quarter. Fuller & Thaler Asset Management Inc. now owns 3,501,638 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $198,123,000 after acquiring an additional 1,951,969 shares during the period. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in Spire during the fourth quarter valued at about $24,541,000. Victory Capital Management Inc. grew its position in Spire by 125.6% during the fourth quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 627,548 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $39,121,000 after acquiring an additional 349,393 shares during the period. Wellington Management Group LLP grew its position in Spire by 275.4% during the third quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 313,212 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $17,722,000 after acquiring an additional 229,771 shares during the period. Finally, Thompson Siegel & Walmsley LLC purchased a new stake in Spire during the third quarter valued at about $11,898,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.