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

JPMorgan Chase & Co. upgraded shares of Spire (NYSE:SR) from a neutral rating to an overweight rating in a research note released on Thursday, MarketBeat.com reports. The brokerage currently has $85.00 target price on the utilities provider’s stock, up from their prior target price of $72.00.

A number of other equities analysts have also recently weighed in on SR. StockNews.com raised shares of Spire from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 18th. Janney Montgomery Scott started coverage on shares of Spire in a research report on Tuesday, December 17th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $73.00 price objective for the company. Morgan Stanley decreased 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 report on Friday, November 22nd. UBS Group upped their price objective on shares of Spire from $75.00 to $80.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 21st. Finally, LADENBURG THALM/SH SH raised shares of Spire to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Monday, March 17th. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, three have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $76.00.

Spire Stock Down 1.4 %

Shares of Spire stock opened at $76.31 on Thursday. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $73.30 and a 200 day moving average price of $69.18. The company has a current ratio of 0.50, a quick ratio of 0.37 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.21. Spire has a twelve month low of $57.27 and a twelve month high of $78.83. The stock has a market cap of $4.45 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.48, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.82 and a beta of 0.53.

Spire (NYSE:SR) last announced its quarterly earnings results 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%. Equities research analysts forecast that Spire will post 4.5 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Spire Cuts Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, April 2nd. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, March 11th will be paid a $0.785 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, March 11th. This represents a $3.14 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.11%. Spire’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 76.03%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Spire

Institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC raised its stake in Spire by 19.5% during the fourth quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC now owns 4,989 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $338,000 after acquiring an additional 815 shares during the period. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC raised its stake in Spire by 2.9% during the fourth quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 193,065 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $13,096,000 after acquiring an additional 5,454 shares during the period. Zimmer Partners LP acquired a new stake in Spire during the fourth quarter worth about $30,083,000. iSAM Funds UK Ltd raised its stake in Spire by 2.5% during the fourth quarter. iSAM Funds UK Ltd now owns 9,798 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $665,000 after acquiring an additional 239 shares during the period. Finally, Sourcerock Group LLC acquired a new stake in Spire during the fourth quarter worth about $12,567,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 87.36% of the company’s stock.

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.