Spire Inc. (NYSE:SR) Announces Quarterly Dividend of $0.82

Spire Inc. (NYSE:SR) declared a quarterly dividend on Thursday, July 30th. Investors of record on Friday, September 11th will be paid a dividend of 0.825 per share by the utilities provider on Friday, October 2nd. This represents a c) dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.1%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, September 11th.

Spire has increased its dividend payment by an average of 0.0%annually over the last three years and has raised its dividend annually for the last 22 consecutive years. Spire has a payout ratio of 65.2% meaning its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities research analysts expect Spire to earn $5.52 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $3.30 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 59.8%.

Spire Trading Down 0.5%

SR opened at $80.61 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $4.77 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.17, a P/E/G ratio of 1.81 and a beta of 0.52. Spire has a 12 month low of $73.41 and a 12 month high of $95.31. The company has a current ratio of 0.55, a quick ratio of 0.48 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.69. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $80.78 and a 200 day moving average of $86.04.

Spire (NYSE:SR) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, May 6th. The utilities provider reported $3.76 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.72 by $0.04. The business had revenue of $1.02 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.07 billion. Spire had a return on equity of 9.49% and a net margin of 13.97%.The company’s quarterly revenue was up 4.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $3.60 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts forecast that Spire will post 4.02 EPS for the current year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms recently weighed in on SR. TD Cowen started coverage on Spire in a report on Thursday, April 16th. They set a “hold” rating and a $101.00 price target on the stock. Wolfe Research initiated coverage on shares of Spire in a research report on Tuesday, May 26th. They set a “peer perform” rating on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reissued a “neutral” rating and issued a $85.00 target price (up from $84.00) on shares of Spire in a research note on Friday, June 26th. BTIG Research set a $101.00 target price on shares of Spire in a report on Thursday, July 23rd. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company began coverage on shares of Spire in a research note on Monday, May 11th. They set an “overweight” rating and a $96.00 price target for the company. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, five have assigned a Buy rating and five have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $94.50.

About Spire

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.