Spire (NYSE:SR) Receives Sector Perform Rating from Royal Bank of Canada

Spire (NYSE:SR)‘s stock had its “sector perform” rating reiterated by stock analysts at Royal Bank of Canada in a report released on Tuesday, Benzinga reports. They currently have a $65.00 price target on the utilities provider’s stock. Royal Bank of Canada’s price objective suggests a potential upside of 11.68% from the company’s previous close.

Other research analysts have also recently issued reports about the company. UBS Group assumed coverage on Spire in a research report on Friday, April 12th. They set a “buy” rating and a $68.00 price target for the company. Mizuho dropped their price objective on Spire from $66.00 to $64.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, January 22nd. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have given a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $62.25.

Spire Stock Up 0.1 %

Shares of SR stock opened at $58.20 on Tuesday. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $59.69 and a 200 day moving average of $59.77. The company has a current ratio of 0.55, a quick ratio of 0.43 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.16. The stock has a market cap of $3.20 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.69, a P/E/G ratio of 2.69 and a beta of 0.51. Spire has a twelve month low of $53.77 and a twelve month high of $70.60.

Spire (NYSE:SR) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 1st. The utilities provider reported $1.47 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.37 by $0.10. The company had revenue of $756.60 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $688.88 million. Spire had a return on equity of 8.27% and a net margin of 8.11%. Spire’s quarterly revenue was down 7.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business earned $1.55 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Spire will post 4.35 EPS for the current year.

Insider Transactions at Spire

In other news, Treasurer Adam W. Woodard sold 1,229 shares of Spire stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $59.58, for a total value of $73,223.82. Following the sale, the treasurer now directly owns 1,560 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $92,944.80. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In other news, Treasurer Adam W. Woodard sold 1,229 shares of Spire stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $59.58, for a total value of $73,223.82. Following the sale, the treasurer now directly owns 1,560 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $92,944.80. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, insider Joseph B. Hampton sold 1,294 shares of Spire stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $58.13, for a total value of $75,220.22. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 6,768 shares in the company, valued at $393,423.84. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 2.86% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Spire

A number of institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in SR. Raymond James Financial Services Advisors Inc. lifted its position in Spire by 2.7% during the first quarter. Raymond James Financial Services Advisors Inc. now owns 5,345 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $384,000 after buying an additional 142 shares in the last quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC raised its position in Spire by 15.2% in the first quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC now owns 5,593 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $402,000 after purchasing an additional 736 shares during the period. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. raised its position in Spire by 9.0% in the first quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 7,826 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $562,000 after purchasing an additional 645 shares during the period. Bank of Montreal Can raised its position in Spire by 4.8% in the first quarter. Bank of Montreal Can now owns 26,019 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,868,000 after purchasing an additional 1,196 shares during the period. Finally, Great West Life Assurance Co. Can raised its position in Spire by 13.0% in the first quarter. Great West Life Assurance Co. Can now owns 61,725 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $4,635,000 after purchasing an additional 7,086 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other 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 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.