Spire (NYSE:SR) Upgraded at BTIG Research

BTIG Research upgraded shares of Spire (NYSE:SR) to a strong-buy rating in a research note issued to investors on Wednesday morning,Zacks.com reports.

SR has been the topic of a number of other research reports. UBS Group lifted their price objective on Spire from $80.00 to $95.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, October 13th. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of Spire in a research report on Wednesday, October 8th. Jefferies Financial Group upgraded Spire to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 7th. Stifel Nicolaus set a $81.00 price objective on Spire and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 15th. Finally, Morgan Stanley set a $91.00 price objective on Spire and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, five have issued a Buy rating, four have assigned a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Spire presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $85.00.

Spire Stock Performance

NYSE SR opened at $88.83 on Wednesday. The company has a market cap of $5.24 billion, a PE ratio of 19.19, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.56 and a beta of 0.69. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $79.54 and its 200-day simple moving average is $76.50. Spire has a 1-year low of $61.87 and a 1-year high of $89.09. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.08, a current ratio of 0.37 and a quick ratio of 0.27.

Spire (NYSE:SR) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, August 5th. The utilities provider reported $0.01 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($0.09) by $0.10. The business had revenue of $421.90 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $417.27 million. Spire had a return on equity of 8.66% and a net margin of 11.56%.The business’s quarterly revenue was up 1.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business posted ($0.14) earnings per share. Spire has set its FY 2025 guidance at 4.400-4.60 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Spire will post 4.5 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Spire Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, October 2nd. Stockholders of record on Thursday, September 11th were paid a $0.785 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, September 11th. This represents a $3.14 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.5%. Spire’s payout ratio is presently 67.82%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Spire

A number of institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Ameritas Investment Partners Inc. grew its stake in Spire by 0.8% during the 2nd quarter. Ameritas Investment Partners Inc. now owns 17,461 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,274,000 after purchasing an additional 146 shares in the last quarter. Inspire Investing LLC grew its stake in Spire by 2.8% during the 3rd quarter. Inspire Investing LLC now owns 5,590 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $456,000 after purchasing an additional 150 shares in the last quarter. State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D grew its stake in Spire by 0.6% during the 2nd quarter. State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D now owns 25,636 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,871,000 after purchasing an additional 152 shares in the last quarter. Signaturefd LLC grew its stake in Spire by 21.7% during the 1st quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 914 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $72,000 after purchasing an additional 163 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Mackenzie Financial Corp grew its stake in Spire by 5.5% during the 1st quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp now owns 3,672 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $287,000 after purchasing an additional 193 shares in the last quarter. 87.36% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.