Spire (NYSE:SR) Sets New 1-Year Low – What’s Next?

Spire Inc. (NYSE:SR)’s share price reached a new 52-week low during trading on Tuesday. The stock traded as low as $75.71 and last traded at $76.9030, with a volume of 19170 shares trading hands. The stock had previously closed at $76.84.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

SR has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Scotiabank started coverage on Spire in a research note on Tuesday. They set a “sector perform” rating and a $79.00 price target on the stock. Huntington started coverage on Spire in a research note on Monday, September 14th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $93.00 price objective for the company. BTIG Research reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $102.00 price objective on shares of Spire in a report on Monday, September 21st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reiterated a “neutral” rating and set a $85.00 target price (up from $84.00) on shares of Spire in a research report on Friday, June 26th. Finally, Weiss Ratings lowered shares of Spire from a “buy (b)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a report on Friday. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seven have given a Buy rating and six have issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $92.50.

Spire Price Performance

The stock has a market cap of $4.54 billion, a P/E ratio of 8.57, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.73 and a beta of 0.54. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $81.38 and a 200 day simple moving average of $84.25. The company has a current ratio of 0.37, a quick ratio of 0.27 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.61.

Spire (NYSE:SR) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, August 5th. The utilities provider reported ($0.26) EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($0.32) by $0.06. The business had revenue of $420.20 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $394.62 million. Spire had a return on equity of 8.65% and a net margin of 21.48%.The firm’s revenue was up 19.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $0.01 earnings per share. Spire has set its FY 2026 guidance at 3.900-4.100 EPS. On average, analysts forecast that Spire Inc. will post 4.01 earnings per share for the current year.

Spire Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, October 2nd. Stockholders of record on Friday, September 11th will be paid a $0.8250 dividend. This represents a $3.30 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.3%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, September 11th. Spire’s dividend payout ratio is currently 36.79%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Spire

Several large investors have recently modified their holdings of SR. BlackRock Inc. bought a new position in Spire during the second quarter worth $667,642,000. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its position in Spire by 3.1% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,579,856 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $130,672,000 after acquiring an additional 47,106 shares during the last quarter. Captrust Financial Advisors boosted its position in Spire by 1.7% during the fourth quarter. Captrust Financial Advisors now owns 1,240,395 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $102,581,000 after acquiring an additional 20,224 shares during the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP grew its holdings in Spire by 1.4% during the 2nd quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 667,616 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $52,134,000 after acquiring an additional 8,927 shares during the period. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp acquired a new stake in Spire during the 2nd quarter worth about $45,993,000. 87.36% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

About Spire

Spire Inc is an energy company headquartered in St. Louis, Missouri. Through its regulated utility operations, the company distributes natural gas to residential, commercial and industrial customers in Missouri and Alabama, serving communities through local natural gas infrastructure and related customer services.

Spire also operates businesses involved in natural gas marketing, storage and pipeline transportation. These operations support the company’s utility activities and provide natural gas supply, logistics and infrastructure services to utilities, commercial and industrial customers, and other market participants.

The company traces its history to 1857, when it was established as Laclede Gas Company.