Spire (NYSE:SR) Coverage Initiated at Janney Montgomery Scott

Janney Montgomery Scott initiated coverage on shares of Spire (NYSE:SR - Free Report) in a research note released on Tuesday, MarketBeat.com reports. The firm issued a neutral rating and a $73.00 price target on the utilities provider's stock.

A number of other equities analysts have also recently issued reports on SR. UBS Group upped their price target on shares of Spire from $75.00 to $80.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, November 21st. Mizuho upped their target price on shares of Spire from $62.00 to $65.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 19th. StockNews.com cut shares of Spire from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a research note on Friday, November 29th. Morgan Stanley lowered their target price on shares of Spire from $77.00 to $75.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, November 22nd. Finally, Bank of America assumed coverage on shares of Spire in a research note on Friday. They set a "neutral" rating and a $70.00 target price on the stock. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating and one has issued a buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Spire has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $70.28.

Spire Stock Up 0.6 %

Spire stock traded up $0.42 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, reaching $68.31. The stock had a trading volume of 405,986 shares, compared to its average volume of 410,107. The company has a market capitalization of $3.95 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.75, a PEG ratio of 3.04 and a beta of 0.57. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $67.31 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $64.95. Spire has a one year low of $56.36 and a one year high of $73.64. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.24, a current ratio of 0.45 and a quick ratio of 0.30.

Spire Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, January 3rd. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, December 11th will be given a dividend of $3.14 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, December 11th. This represents a $12.56 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 18.39%. This is a positive change from Spire's previous quarterly dividend of $0.76. Spire's dividend payout ratio is presently 72.85%.

Insider Activity

In other Spire news, Treasurer Adam W. Woodard sold 1,150 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, December 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $67.47, for a total transaction of $77,590.50. Following the completion of the sale, the treasurer now directly owns 2,587 shares of the company's stock, valued at $174,544.89. This trade represents a 30.77 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director Paul D. Koonce acquired 1,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Monday, December 2nd. The shares were bought at an average cost of $73.61 per share, with a total value of $73,610.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director now owns 2,425 shares in the company, valued at approximately $178,504.25. This represents a 70.18 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Insiders own 2.86% of the company's stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Captrust Financial Advisors bought a new stake in Spire in the third quarter worth $39,228,000. AQR Capital Management LLC grew its stake in Spire by 290.9% in the second quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 130,827 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $7,877,000 after purchasing an additional 97,358 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its stake in Spire by 8.3% in the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 944,387 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $57,351,000 after purchasing an additional 72,119 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its stake in Spire by 5.5% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,385,452 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $93,244,000 after purchasing an additional 71,798 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Victory Capital Management Inc. grew its stake in Spire by 11.0% in the second quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 698,819 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $42,439,000 after purchasing an additional 69,020 shares during the last quarter. 87.36% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

About Spire

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.