Spire (NYSE:SR) Shares Gap Down - Here's What Happened

Spire Inc. (NYSE:SR - Get Free Report)'s stock price gapped down prior to trading on Thursday . The stock had previously closed at $66.80, but opened at $64.80. Spire shares last traded at $64.35, with a volume of 34,143 shares traded.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts have recently weighed in on SR shares. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on Spire from $72.00 to $73.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Wednesday. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their price target on Spire from $64.00 to $70.00 and gave the stock a "hold" rating in a report on Thursday, August 1st. LADENBURG THALM/SH SH cut shares of Spire from a "neutral" rating to a "sell" rating and reduced their price target for the stock from $65.50 to $60.50 in a research report on Thursday. Finally, Morgan Stanley increased their price objective on shares of Spire from $70.00 to $76.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Wednesday, September 25th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating and one has issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Spire has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $66.19.

Spire Trading Down 4.5 %

The stock has a fifty day moving average of $65.53 and a 200-day moving average of $62.85. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.11, a quick ratio of 0.35 and a current ratio of 0.48. The company has a market cap of $3.68 billion, a PE ratio of 16.11, a PEG ratio of 2.84 and a beta of 0.52.

Spire (NYSE:SR - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 31st. The utilities provider reported ($0.14) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of ($0.18) by $0.04. Spire had a return on equity of 8.10% and a net margin of 9.40%. The company had revenue of $414.10 million during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $313.86 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned ($0.42) EPS. Spire's revenue was down 1.1% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Spire Inc. will post 4.23 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Spire Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, October 2nd. Investors of record on Wednesday, September 11th were issued a dividend of $0.755 per share. This represents a $3.02 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.74%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, September 11th. Spire's payout ratio is currently 76.26%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Spire

In other Spire news, Director Maria V. Fogarty sold 6,590 shares of Spire stock in a transaction on Friday, August 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $65.15, for a total transaction of $429,338.50. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 9,800 shares of the company's stock, valued at $638,470. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. In other news, VP Gerard J. Gorla sold 500 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Thursday, August 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $64.82, for a total value of $32,410.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 7,311 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $473,899.02. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, Director Maria V. Fogarty sold 6,590 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Friday, August 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $65.15, for a total value of $429,338.50. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 9,800 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $638,470. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 2.86% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Manning & Napier Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Spire during the 2nd quarter worth $2,233,000. Clearbridge Investments LLC purchased a new stake in Spire during the 1st quarter valued at about $2,401,000. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. grew its stake in Spire by 197.4% during the 2nd quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 162,195 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $9,850,000 after purchasing an additional 107,662 shares during the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP grew its stake in Spire by 19.7% during the 4th quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 374,776 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $23,364,000 after purchasing an additional 61,564 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in Spire by 1.2% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 5,626,863 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $345,321,000 after purchasing an additional 65,486 shares during the last quarter. 87.36% of the stock is 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.