StockNews.com Upgrades Spire (NYSE:SR) to Sell

StockNews.com upgraded shares of Spire (NYSE:SR) to a sell rating in a research report report published on Friday morning.

SR has been the topic of a number of other reports. Royal Bank of Canada decreased their price target on Spire from $67.00 to $66.00 and set a sector perform rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, September 6th. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price target on Spire from $67.00 to $64.00 and set an equal weight rating on the stock in a research report on Friday. Guggenheim decreased their price target on Spire from $65.00 to $55.00 in a research report on Monday, October 9th. Morgan Stanley decreased their price target on Spire from $72.00 to $66.00 and set an equal weight rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, October 25th. Finally, Mizuho upgraded Spire from a neutral rating to a buy rating and decreased their price objective for the company from $71.00 to $66.00 in a research report on Friday, September 29th. Two 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. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of Hold and a consensus target price of $63.88.

Spire Trading Down 0.7 %

Spire stock opened at $60.95 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.33, a quick ratio of 0.40 and a current ratio of 0.61. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $57.83 and its 200-day simple moving average is $61.34. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.21 billion, a PE ratio of 15.83, a PEG ratio of 3.44 and a beta of 0.50. Spire has a 52 week low of $53.77 and a 52 week high of $75.83.

Spire (NYSE:SR) last released its earnings results on Thursday, November 16th. The utilities provider reported ($0.78) earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.64) by ($0.14). Spire had a return on equity of 8.50% and a net margin of 8.16%. The firm had revenue of $310.40 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $337.48 million. During the same period last year, the business earned ($0.66) earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 1.2% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts forecast that Spire will post 4.28 earnings per share for the current year.

Spire Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, January 3rd. Shareholders of record on Monday, December 11th will be given a dividend of $0.755 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, December 8th. This is an increase from Spire’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.72. This represents a $3.02 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.95%. Spire’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 74.81%.

Insider Activity

In other Spire news, EVP Steven P. Rasche purchased 3,100 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, September 7th. The stock was bought at an average cost of $30.82 per share, for a total transaction of $95,542.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 34,665 shares in the company, valued at $1,068,375.30. The acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. In other news, Treasurer Adam W. Woodard acquired 1,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, September 1st. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $58.70 per share, for a total transaction of $58,700.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the treasurer now directly owns 4,190 shares in the company, valued at $245,953. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, EVP Steven P. Rasche bought 3,100 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, September 7th. The shares were bought at an average cost of $30.82 per share, for a total transaction of $95,542.00. Following the purchase, the executive vice president now owns 34,665 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,068,375.30. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders acquired 4,600 shares of company stock worth $184,717. Corporate insiders own 2.93% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Spire

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of SR. Raymond James Financial Services Advisors Inc. grew its stake in shares of Spire by 2.7% in the first quarter. Raymond James Financial Services Advisors Inc. now owns 5,345 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $384,000 after purchasing an additional 142 shares during the last quarter. Cohen & Steers Inc. grew its stake in shares of Spire by 31.8% in the first quarter. Cohen & Steers Inc. now owns 639 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $46,000 after purchasing an additional 154 shares during the last quarter. Osaic Holdings Inc. grew its stake in shares of Spire by 2.0% in the second quarter. Osaic Holdings Inc. now owns 9,888 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $627,000 after purchasing an additional 190 shares during the last quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. grew its stake in shares of Spire by 3.4% in the first quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. now owns 6,073 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $436,000 after purchasing an additional 198 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Creative Planning grew its stake in shares of Spire by 3.1% in the third quarter. Creative Planning now owns 6,889 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $390,000 after purchasing an additional 205 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 87.36% of the company’s stock.

Spire Company Profile

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 two segments, Gas Utility and Gas Marketing. It is also involved in the marketing of natural gas.