Spire (NYSE:SR) Upgraded by StockNews.com to “Hold”

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

Several other research analysts have also commented on SR. Mizuho lowered shares of Spire from a buy rating to a neutral rating and decreased their price objective for the stock from $64.00 to $62.00 in a report on Thursday. UBS Group started coverage on shares of Spire in a research report on Friday, April 12th. They set a buy rating and a $68.00 price target on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on shares of Spire from $64.00 to $66.00 and gave the stock an equal weight rating in a report on Thursday. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated a sector perform rating and set a $65.00 target price on shares of Spire in a report on Tuesday, April 16th. Finally, LADENBURG THALM/SH SH began coverage on Spire in a research note on Friday, April 26th. They issued a neutral rating and a $57.50 target price for the company. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and one has given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of Hold and a consensus price target of $61.72.

Spire Trading Down 0.6 %

Shares of Spire stock traded down $0.37 during trading on Friday, reaching $61.31. 441,248 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 371,742. The company has a quick ratio of 0.43, a current ratio of 0.61 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.09. The firm has a market cap of $3.54 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.48, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.84 and a beta of 0.50. Spire has a 1 year low of $53.77 and a 1 year high of $69.99. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $60.22 and its 200 day moving average is $60.10.

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

Spire Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, July 2nd. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, June 11th will be given a $0.755 dividend. This represents a $3.02 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.93%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, June 11th. Spire’s dividend payout ratio is presently 76.26%.

Insider Buying and Selling

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

Institutional Trading of Spire

Institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. American Century Companies Inc. increased its position in Spire by 0.8% during the third quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 6,968,088 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $394,254,000 after acquiring an additional 52,893 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in shares of Spire by 0.6% during the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 5,583,880 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $315,936,000 after purchasing an additional 36,022 shares during the last quarter. Fuller & Thaler Asset Management Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Spire by 126.0% in the 3rd quarter. Fuller & Thaler Asset Management Inc. now owns 3,501,638 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $198,123,000 after purchasing an additional 1,951,969 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its holdings in shares of Spire by 2.3% in the fourth quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 837,103 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $52,185,000 after buying an additional 19,032 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Invesco Ltd. grew its position in Spire by 25.7% during the third quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 788,694 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $44,624,000 after buying an additional 161,171 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other 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.