Spire (NYSE:SR) Upgraded to Overweight at JPMorgan Chase & Co.

JPMorgan Chase & Co. upgraded shares of Spire (NYSE:SR) from a neutral rating to an overweight rating in a report issued on Thursday morning, Marketbeat reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. currently has $85.00 price target on the utilities provider’s stock, up from their prior price target of $72.00.

Other research analysts have also recently issued reports about the stock. Mizuho raised their price objective on shares of Spire from $76.00 to $82.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday. Morgan Stanley dropped their price objective on shares of Spire from $77.00 to $75.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, November 22nd. Janney Montgomery Scott started coverage on shares of Spire in a research note on Tuesday, December 17th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $73.00 price objective for the company. 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. Finally, StockNews.com raised shares of Spire from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, three have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $76.00.

Spire Price Performance

SR stock opened at $77.37 on Thursday. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $73.08 and a 200-day moving average of $69.08. Spire has a 12-month low of $57.27 and a 12-month high of $78.83. The company has a current ratio of 0.50, a quick ratio of 0.37 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.21. The company has a market cap of $4.51 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.73, a PEG ratio of 2.82 and a beta of 0.53.

Spire (NYSE:SR) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 5th. The utilities provider reported $1.34 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.42 by ($0.08). Spire had a return on equity of 7.88% and a net margin of 9.70%. As a group, equities analysts expect that Spire will post 4.5 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Spire Cuts Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 2nd. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, March 11th will be paid a dividend of $0.785 per share. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, March 11th. This represents a $3.14 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.06%. Spire’s dividend payout ratio is presently 76.03%.

Institutional Trading of Spire

Institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Meeder Asset Management Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Spire during the 3rd quarter valued at $25,000. Golden State Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Spire during the 4th quarter valued at $27,000. GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Spire by 87.2% during the 4th quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 438 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $30,000 after acquiring an additional 204 shares in the last quarter. Lee Danner & Bass Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Spire during the 4th quarter valued at $32,000. Finally, Larson Financial Group LLC lifted 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 valued at $36,000 after acquiring an additional 501 shares in the last quarter. 87.36% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.