Brokerages Set Spire Inc. (NYSE:SR) Price Target at $68.06

Shares of Spire Inc. (NYSE:SR) have been assigned a consensus rating of “Hold” from the seven research firms that are currently covering the firm, Marketbeat Ratings reports. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating and one has issued a buy rating on the company. The average 12 month target price among analysts that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $69.93.

Several equities analysts have recently issued reports on the company. LADENBURG THALM/SH SH lowered Spire from a “neutral” rating to a “sell” rating and decreased their target price for the stock from $65.50 to $60.50 in a research report on Thursday, October 17th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on Spire from $73.00 to $75.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 21st. Mizuho boosted their target price on Spire from $62.00 to $65.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 19th. UBS Group boosted their price objective on Spire from $75.00 to $80.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 21st. Finally, StockNews.com lowered Spire from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 21st.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Spire

Several institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of SR. Blue Trust Inc. raised its stake in shares of Spire by 26.8% during the 2nd quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 761 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $47,000 after purchasing an additional 161 shares in the last quarter. Crossmark Global Holdings Inc. raised its stake in shares of Spire by 5.2% during the 3rd quarter. Crossmark Global Holdings Inc. now owns 3,572 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $240,000 after purchasing an additional 177 shares in the last quarter. Creative Planning raised its stake in shares of Spire by 2.7% during the 3rd quarter. Creative Planning now owns 7,126 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $480,000 after purchasing an additional 190 shares in the last quarter. Missouri Trust & Investment Co raised its stake in shares of Spire by 28.6% during the 3rd quarter. Missouri Trust & Investment Co now owns 900 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $61,000 after purchasing an additional 200 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Verdence Capital Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of Spire by 4.5% during the 3rd quarter. Verdence Capital Advisors LLC now owns 5,327 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $358,000 after purchasing an additional 228 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 87.36% of the company’s stock.

Spire Price Performance

Spire stock opened at $73.11 on Monday. The firm has a market capitalization of $4.22 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.96, a PEG ratio of 3.25 and a beta of 0.52. Spire has a 1 year low of $56.36 and a 1 year high of $73.64. The business has a 50-day moving average of $66.23 and a 200-day moving average of $64.09. The company has a current ratio of 0.45, a quick ratio of 0.30 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.24.

Spire Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, January 3rd. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, December 11th will be paid a $3.14 dividend. This is a boost from Spire’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.76. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, December 11th. This represents a $12.56 annualized dividend and a yield of 17.18%. Spire’s payout ratio is presently 70.07%.

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.