Spire (NYSE:SR) Earns Outperform Rating from Analysts at Huntington

Huntington started coverage on shares of Spire (NYSE:SR) in a research note published on Monday, MarketBeat Ratings reports. The brokerage issued an outperform rating and a $93.00 price objective on the utilities provider’s stock.

A number of other research firms have also recently issued reports on SR. Morgan Stanley decreased their target price on Spire from $96.00 to $91.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, August 21st. BTIG Research set a $101.00 target price on shares of Spire in a report on Thursday, July 23rd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. restated a “neutral” rating and issued a $85.00 price target (up from $84.00) on shares of Spire in a research note on Friday, June 26th. Wolfe Research started coverage on shares of Spire in a report on Tuesday, May 26th. They set a “peer perform” rating on the stock. Finally, Mizuho initiated coverage on shares of Spire in a research report on Tuesday, July 7th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $88.00 price objective for the company. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, six have given a Buy rating and five have issued a Hold rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $93.91.

Spire Stock Down 0.4%

NYSE SR opened at $79.87 on Monday. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $81.86 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $85.00. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.61, a current ratio of 0.37 and a quick ratio of 0.27. Spire has a fifty-two week low of $75.31 and a fifty-two week high of $95.31. The stock has a market capitalization of $4.72 billion, a PE ratio of 8.90, a PEG ratio of 1.79 and a beta of 0.54.

Spire (NYSE:SR) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, August 5th. The utilities provider reported ($0.26) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($0.32) by $0.06. Spire had a return on equity of 8.65% and a net margin of 21.48%.The company had revenue of $420.20 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $394.62 million. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $0.01 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 19.2% compared to the same quarter last year. Spire has set its FY 2026 guidance at 3.900-4.100 EPS. Equities analysts expect that Spire will post 4.01 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Spire Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, October 2nd. Shareholders of record on Friday, September 11th will be given a $0.825 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, September 11th. This represents a $3.30 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.1%. Spire’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 36.79%.

Institutional Trading of Spire

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. BlackRock Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Spire during the second quarter worth $667,642,000. Bank of New York Mellon Corp bought a new stake in shares of Spire in the second quarter worth $45,993,000. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in Spire in the fourth quarter valued at $46,226,000. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company acquired a new stake in Spire in the second quarter valued at $37,427,000. Finally, Bank of America Corp DE bought a new position in Spire during the 2nd quarter worth $28,970,000. 87.36% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

About Spire

Spire Inc is an energy company headquartered in St. Louis, Missouri. Through its regulated utility operations, the company distributes natural gas to residential, commercial and industrial customers in Missouri and Alabama, serving communities through local natural gas infrastructure and related customer services.

Spire also operates businesses involved in natural gas marketing, storage and pipeline transportation. These operations support the company’s utility activities and provide natural gas supply, logistics and infrastructure services to utilities, commercial and industrial customers, and other market participants.

The company traces its history to 1857, when it was established as Laclede Gas Company.