Spire (NYSE:SR) Rating Lowered to Sell at StockNews.com

StockNews.com downgraded shares of Spire (NYSE:SR) from a hold rating to a sell rating in a research report report published on Sunday morning.

Several other equities research analysts have also issued reports on the stock. Morgan Stanley lowered their target price on shares of Spire from $77.00 to $75.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, November 22nd. UBS Group upped their target price on Spire from $75.00 to $80.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 21st. Stifel Nicolaus dropped their price target on shares of Spire from $70.00 to $69.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, November 22nd. Mizuho upgraded shares of Spire from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and upped their price objective for the stock from $65.00 to $76.00 in a research report on Friday, December 20th. Finally, LADENBURG THALM/SH SH lowered shares of Spire from a “neutral” rating to a “sell” rating and decreased their price target for the company from $65.50 to $60.50 in a research note on Thursday, October 17th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $71.50.

Spire Trading Up 3.9 %

Shares of NYSE:SR opened at $72.31 on Friday. 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 has a 12-month low of $56.36 and a 12-month high of $73.64. The business has a 50 day moving average of $68.60 and a two-hundred day moving average of $66.31. The company has a market capitalization of $4.18 billion, a PE ratio of 16.78, a PEG ratio of 2.65 and a beta of 0.57.

Spire Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, January 3rd. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, December 11th were given a dividend of $3.14 per share. This represents a $12.56 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 17.37%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, December 11th. This is a positive change from Spire’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.76. Spire’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 72.85%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Treasurer Adam W. Woodard sold 1,150 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, December 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $67.47, for a total value of $77,590.50. Following the completion of the sale, the treasurer now owns 2,587 shares in the company, valued at approximately $174,544.89. This trade represents a 30.77 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, Director Paul D. Koonce bought 1,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, December 2nd. The shares were bought at an average price of $73.61 per share, for a total transaction of $73,610.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 2,425 shares in the company, valued at approximately $178,504.25. This represents a 70.18 % increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. 2.33% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Spire

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its position in Spire by 8.3% during the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 944,387 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $57,351,000 after purchasing an additional 72,119 shares in the last quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC raised its position in shares of Spire by 197.2% in the second quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 21,100 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,281,000 after buying an additional 14,000 shares during the last quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. grew its stake in Spire by 75.3% in the 2nd quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 14,622 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $888,000 after acquiring an additional 6,283 shares during the period. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans raised its holdings in Spire by 1.7% in the 2nd quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans now owns 644,525 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $39,142,000 after acquiring an additional 10,562 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Squarepoint Ops LLC raised its holdings in Spire by 28.8% in the 2nd quarter. Squarepoint Ops LLC now owns 127,781 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $7,760,000 after acquiring an additional 28,602 shares during the last quarter. 87.36% of the stock is currently 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.