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

Spire Inc. (NYSE:SRGet Free Report) 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.

Read Our Latest Report on SR

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

(Get Free Report)

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.

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