Spire (NYSE:SR) Sets New 12-Month High Following Analyst Upgrade

Spire Inc. (NYSE:SR)’s share price hit a new 52-week high during mid-day trading on Thursday after Morgan Stanley raised their price target on the stock from $75.00 to $78.00. Morgan Stanley currently has an equal weight rating on the stock. Spire traded as high as $78.83 and last traded at $77.92, with a volume of 91954 shares traded. The stock had previously closed at $76.91.

SR has been the topic of a number of other research reports. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on shares of Spire from $73.00 to $75.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 21st. Mizuho lifted their price objective on shares of Spire from $76.00 to $82.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday. Janney Montgomery Scott started coverage on shares of Spire in a research report on Tuesday, December 17th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $73.00 price objective on the stock. UBS Group lifted their target price on shares of Spire from $75.00 to $80.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 21st. Finally, Bank of America started coverage on shares of Spire in a research note on Friday, December 13th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $70.00 target price for the company. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, three have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $76.00.

Institutional Trading of Spire

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of SR. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in Spire during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $42,432,000. Captrust Financial Advisors acquired a new stake in Spire during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $39,228,000. Zimmer Partners LP acquired a new stake in Spire during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $30,083,000. Wellington Management Group LLP lifted its stake 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 valued at $69,381,000 after acquiring an additional 229,662 shares during the period. Finally, Sourcerock Group LLC acquired a new stake in Spire during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $12,567,000. 87.36% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Spire Stock 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’s 50 day simple moving average is $73.30 and its 200 day simple moving average is $69.16. The firm has a market capitalization of $4.45 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.48, a PEG ratio of 2.82 and a beta of 0.53.

Spire (NYSE:SR) last announced 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%. Sell-side analysts forecast that Spire Inc. will post 4.5 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Spire Cuts Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 2nd. Investors of record on Tuesday, March 11th will be paid a $0.785 dividend. This represents a $3.14 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.11%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, March 11th. Spire’s dividend payout ratio is currently 76.03%.

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 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.