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

Shares of Spire Inc. (NYSE:SR) have received a consensus recommendation of “Hold” from the seven analysts that are covering the company, MarketBeat.com reports. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, five have given a hold recommendation and one has given a buy recommendation to the company. The average 1 year price target among analysts that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $69.93.

A number of equities research analysts recently weighed in on SR shares. UBS Group increased their price target on Spire from $75.00 to $80.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 21st. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price target on Spire from $73.00 to $75.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 21st. Stifel Nicolaus dropped their price target on Spire from $70.00 to $69.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, November 22nd. Mizuho increased their price target on Spire from $62.00 to $65.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 19th. Finally, Morgan Stanley dropped their price target on Spire from $77.00 to $75.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, November 22nd.

Spire Trading Up 0.7 %

Shares of Spire stock opened at $73.11 on Monday. Spire has a 12-month low of $56.36 and a 12-month high of $73.64. The business’s 50 day moving average is $66.23 and its 200-day moving average is $64.09. The company has a quick ratio of 0.30, a current ratio of 0.45 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.24. The stock has a market cap of $4.22 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.96, a P/E/G ratio of 3.25 and a beta of 0.52.

Spire Increases Dividend

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

Institutional Trading of Spire

Large investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Meeder Asset Management Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Spire during the 3rd quarter worth $25,000. International Assets Investment Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Spire during the 2nd quarter worth $31,000. Larson Financial Group LLC grew its holdings in shares of Spire by 1,318.4% during the 3rd quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC now owns 539 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $36,000 after purchasing an additional 501 shares in the last quarter. LRI Investments LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Spire during the 1st quarter worth $35,000. Finally, Blue Trust Inc. grew its holdings 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. 87.36% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.