Spire (NYSE:SR) Earns Sector Perform Rating from Royal Bank of Canada

Royal Bank of Canada reissued their sector perform rating on shares of Spire (NYSE:SR) in a research note released on Tuesday, Benzinga reports. The firm currently has a $65.00 price target on the utilities provider’s stock.

Other equities research analysts have also issued research reports about the company. Mizuho dropped their price target on Spire from $66.00 to $64.00 and set a buy rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, January 22nd. UBS Group assumed coverage on Spire in a research note on Friday, April 12th. They set a buy rating and a $68.00 price target on the stock. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Spire has an average rating of Hold and a consensus price target of $62.25.

Spire Stock Performance

SR stock opened at $59.40 on Tuesday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.43, a current ratio of 0.55 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.16. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $59.71 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $59.77. Spire has a twelve month low of $53.77 and a twelve month high of $70.60. The firm has a market cap of $3.27 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.01, a PEG ratio of 2.67 and a beta of 0.51.

Spire (NYSE:SR) last released its earnings results on Thursday, February 1st. The utilities provider reported $1.47 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.37 by $0.10. Spire had a return on equity of 8.27% and a net margin of 8.11%. The business had revenue of $756.60 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $688.88 million. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $1.55 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was down 7.1% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts predict that Spire will post 4.35 earnings per share for the current year.

Spire Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, April 2nd. Investors of record on Monday, March 11th were given a $0.755 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, March 8th. This represents a $3.02 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 5.08%. Spire’s dividend payout ratio is currently 81.40%.

Insider Activity at Spire

In other Spire news, insider Joseph B. Hampton sold 1,294 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 directly owns 6,768 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $393,423.84. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. In other Spire news, insider Joseph B. Hampton sold 1,294 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 directly owns 6,768 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $393,423.84. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Treasurer Adam W. Woodard sold 1,229 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 completion of the transaction, the treasurer now directly owns 1,560 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $92,944.80. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 2.86% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several large investors have recently made changes to their positions in SR. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of Spire by 70,596.2% during the 4th quarter. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC now owns 4,264,392 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $293,646,000 after buying an additional 4,258,360 shares during the period. Fuller & Thaler Asset Management Inc. raised its stake in shares of Spire by 126.0% during 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 buying an additional 1,951,969 shares during the period. Morgan Stanley raised its stake in shares of Spire by 107.7% during the 3rd quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 1,431,260 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $80,981,000 after buying an additional 742,231 shares during the period. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Spire during the 1st quarter worth approximately $149,000. Finally, State Street Corp raised its stake in shares of Spire by 34.1% during the 1st quarter. State Street Corp now owns 2,252,151 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $163,065,000 after buying an additional 572,381 shares during the period. 87.36% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.