Spire (NYSE:SR) Director Acquires $39,230.00 in Stock

Spire Inc. (NYSE:SR) Director Paul Koonce purchased 500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, June 11th. The stock was purchased at an average price of $78.46 per share, for a total transaction of $39,230.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the director owned 8,000 shares in the company, valued at approximately $627,680. The trade was a 6.67% increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link.

Spire Stock Performance

Shares of SR stock traded up $1.34 on Friday, reaching $79.18. The stock had a trading volume of 79,571 shares, compared to its average volume of 398,121. The stock has a market cap of $4.68 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.91, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.79 and a beta of 0.52. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.69, a quick ratio of 0.48 and a current ratio of 0.55. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $87.72 and a 200 day simple moving average of $86.97. Spire Inc. has a 1 year low of $71.24 and a 1 year high of $95.31.

Spire (NYSE:SR) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, May 6th. The utilities provider reported $3.76 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.72 by $0.04. The company had revenue of $1.02 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.07 billion. Spire had a net margin of 13.97% and a return on equity of 9.49%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 4.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $3.60 EPS. Equities research analysts expect that Spire Inc. will post 4.01 EPS for the current year.

Spire Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, July 2nd. Stockholders of record on Thursday, June 11th will be paid a $0.825 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, June 11th. This represents a $3.30 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.2%. Spire’s dividend payout ratio is 58.00%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts have recently weighed in on SR shares. UBS Group dropped their price objective on Spire from $106.00 to $103.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, May 8th. Wells Fargo & Company started coverage on Spire in a research note on Monday, May 11th. They issued an “overweight” rating and a $96.00 price objective for the company. TD Cowen started coverage on Spire in a report on Thursday, April 16th. They issued a “hold” rating and a $101.00 target price on the stock. Morgan Stanley set a $96.00 target price on Spire in a report on Thursday, May 21st. Finally, Wall Street Zen cut Spire from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Saturday, May 9th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, five have given a Buy rating and four have given a Hold rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $96.22.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Spire

Large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Elo Mutual Pension Insurance Co purchased a new stake in Spire during the third quarter valued at approximately $1,414,000. William Blair Investment Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Spire by 30.8% during the third quarter. William Blair Investment Management LLC now owns 374,050 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $30,493,000 after buying an additional 88,154 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Spire by 0.3% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 6,430,368 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $531,791,000 after purchasing an additional 19,326 shares during the period. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA boosted its holdings in shares of Spire by 10.7% in the fourth quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 594,240 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $49,144,000 after purchasing an additional 57,487 shares during the period. Finally, Captrust Financial Advisors boosted its holdings in shares of Spire by 7.5% in the third quarter. Captrust Financial Advisors now owns 1,220,171 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $99,468,000 after purchasing an additional 85,004 shares during the period. 87.36% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Spire Company Profile

Spire Inc (NYSE: SR), formerly known as The Laclede Group, is a regulated natural gas distribution company headquartered in St. Louis, Missouri. Through its three operating divisions—Spire Missouri, Spire Alabama and Spire Mississippi—the company delivers natural gas to more than 1.7 million residential, commercial and industrial customers. Spire’s service territory spans key markets in the central and southern United States, including metropolitan St. Louis, central Alabama and central Mississippi.

Founded in 1857 as the Laclede Gas Light Company, the business has grown through strategic acquisitions, notably Alabama Gas Corporation in 2013 and Mississippi Gas in 2016.