Shares of Spire Inc. (NYSE:SR - Get Free Report) reached a new 52-week high during mid-day trading on Wednesday . The stock traded as high as $78.80 and last traded at $77.00, with a volume of 564375 shares. The stock had previously closed at $78.02.
Analysts Set New Price Targets
SR has been the subject of several analyst reports. Janney Montgomery Scott assumed coverage on Spire in a research note on Tuesday, December 17th. They issued a "neutral" rating and a $73.00 target price for the company. Mizuho upgraded shares of Spire from a "neutral" rating to an "outperform" rating and boosted their target price for the company from $65.00 to $76.00 in a report on Friday, December 20th. Bank of America began coverage on shares of Spire in a research note on Friday, December 13th. They set a "neutral" rating and a $70.00 price target on the stock. Stifel Nicolaus lowered their price objective on shares of Spire from $70.00 to $69.00 and set a "hold" rating for the company in a research note on Friday, November 22nd. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on Spire from $73.00 to $75.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a report on Thursday, November 21st. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating and three have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Spire presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $74.00.
Check Out Our Latest Stock Analysis on SR
Spire Price Performance
The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.21, a quick ratio of 0.37 and a current ratio of 0.50. The firm has a market cap of $4.46 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.50, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.82 and a beta of 0.53. The company's fifty day moving average is $71.54 and its two-hundred day moving average is $68.41.
Spire (NYSE:SR - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 5th. The utilities provider reported $1.34 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.42 by ($0.08). Spire had a net margin of 9.70% and a return on equity of 7.88%. Equities research analysts forecast that Spire Inc. will post 4.5 EPS for the current year.
Spire Cuts Dividend
The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 2nd. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, March 11th will be issued a $0.785 dividend. This represents a $3.14 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.11%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, March 11th. Spire's dividend payout ratio is presently 76.03%.
Insider Buying and Selling at Spire
In other Spire news, Treasurer Adam W. Woodard sold 1,150 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Friday, December 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $67.47, for a total value of $77,590.50. Following the transaction, the treasurer now owns 2,587 shares in the company, valued at $174,544.89. The trade was a 30.77 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. 2.33% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.
Institutional Trading of Spire
A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of SR. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in Spire by 0.8% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 6,168,221 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $418,390,000 after purchasing an additional 46,434 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp boosted its stake in shares of Spire by 1.4% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 3,154,230 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $214,535,000 after buying an additional 44,969 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its position in shares of Spire by 5.5% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,385,452 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $93,244,000 after buying an additional 71,798 shares in the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP grew its holdings in Spire by 29.0% during the 4th quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 1,022,870 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $69,381,000 after acquiring an additional 229,662 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its stake in Spire by 1.6% in the fourth quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,002,938 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $68,028,000 after purchasing an additional 15,835 shares in the last quarter. 87.36% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.
About Spire
(
Get Free Report)
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.
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