Spire Inc. (NYSE:SR) Director Paul D. Koonce Acquires 1,000 Shares

Spire Inc. (NYSE:SR) Director Paul D. Koonce purchased 1,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, December 2nd. The shares were bought at an average cost of $73.61 per share, for a total transaction of $73,610.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 2,425 shares in the company, valued at approximately $178,504.25. The trade was a 70.18 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink.

Spire Stock Performance

Shares of SR opened at $71.80 on Thursday. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $66.80 and a 200 day moving average of $64.45. Spire Inc. has a 12 month low of $56.36 and a 12 month high of $73.64. The company has a market capitalization of $4.15 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.66, a PEG ratio of 3.21 and a beta of 0.57. 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 business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, January 3rd. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, December 11th will be issued a $3.14 dividend. This is a positive change from Spire’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.76. This represents a $12.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 17.49%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, December 11th. Spire’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 70.07%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts have weighed in on the company. Mizuho boosted their price target on Spire from $62.00 to $65.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday, November 19th. Stifel Nicolaus reduced their price target on Spire from $70.00 to $69.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, November 22nd. StockNews.com downgraded Spire from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Friday, November 29th. LADENBURG THALM/SH SH cut Spire from a “neutral” rating to a “sell” rating and dropped their price objective for the company from $65.50 to $60.50 in a report on Thursday, October 17th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price target on Spire from $73.00 to $75.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, November 21st. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have issued a hold rating and one has assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Spire presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $69.93.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Spire

Several large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD increased its holdings in Spire by 7.1% during the 1st quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 31,218 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,916,000 after purchasing an additional 2,070 shares during the period. Comerica Bank raised its stake in shares of Spire by 12.1% during the first quarter. Comerica Bank now owns 58,063 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $3,563,000 after acquiring an additional 6,284 shares in the last quarter. Burney Co. raised its stake in shares of Spire by 8.9% during the first quarter. Burney Co. now owns 3,866 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $237,000 after acquiring an additional 315 shares in the last quarter. Boston Partners raised its stake in shares of Spire by 132.4% during the first quarter. Boston Partners now owns 38,521 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $2,364,000 after acquiring an additional 21,948 shares in the last quarter. Finally, CWM LLC raised its stake in Spire by 6.9% in the second quarter. CWM LLC now owns 16,707 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,015,000 after buying an additional 1,085 shares in the last quarter. 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.