Spire (NYSE:SR) Director Buys $171,620.00 in Stock

Spire Inc. (NYSE:SR) Director Paul Koonce bought 2,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 8th. The shares were purchased at an average cost of $85.81 per share, with a total value of $171,620.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director owned 7,000 shares in the company, valued at approximately $600,670. This represents a 40.00% increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link.

Spire Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:SR traded up $0.24 during trading on Monday, hitting $85.94. 271,476 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 379,205. The company has a quick ratio of 0.48, a current ratio of 0.55 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.69. The company has a market cap of $5.08 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.10, a P/E/G ratio of 1.41 and a beta of 0.56. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $91.26 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $87.62. Spire Inc. has a 52-week low of $69.94 and a 52-week high of $95.31.

Spire (NYSE:SR) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, May 6th. The utilities provider reported $3.76 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $3.72 by $0.04. The firm 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 business’s quarterly revenue was up 4.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $3.60 EPS. As a group, equities analysts predict that Spire Inc. will post 5.18 EPS for the current year.

Spire Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, July 2nd. Investors of record on Thursday, June 11th will be issued a $0.825 dividend. This represents a $3.30 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.8%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, June 11th. Spire’s payout ratio is presently 58.00%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Community Bank N.A. acquired a new position in Spire in the third quarter valued at about $25,000. Sound Income Strategies LLC acquired a new position in Spire in the fourth quarter valued at about $25,000. Optima Capital LLC acquired a new position in Spire in the fourth quarter valued at about $25,000. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC acquired a new position in Spire in the fourth quarter valued at about $25,000. Finally, Smartleaf Asset Management LLC lifted its position in Spire by 186.8% in the third quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 370 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $30,000 after buying an additional 241 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 87.36% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages recently commented on SR. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their price target on shares of Spire from $81.00 to $87.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 28th. Jefferies Financial Group reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $99.00 price target on shares of Spire in a report on Wednesday, January 21st. UBS Group cut their price target on shares of Spire from $106.00 to $103.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Friday. Weiss Ratings raised shares of Spire from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a report on Thursday, February 5th. Finally, Wall Street Zen lowered shares of Spire from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Saturday. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, six have issued a Buy rating and three have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $95.44.

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.