Spire (NYSE:SR) Director Paul Koonce Purchases 2,000 Shares of Stock

Spire Inc. (NYSE:SR) Director Paul Koonce bought 2,000 shares of Spire stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 8th. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $85.81 per share, for a total transaction of $171,620.00. Following the acquisition, the director owned 7,000 shares in the company, valued at $600,670. The trade was a 40.00% increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink.

Spire Stock Performance

Spire stock opened at $85.75 on Tuesday. 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 capitalization of $5.07 billion, a PE ratio of 15.07, a P/E/G ratio of 1.41 and a beta of 0.56. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $91.05 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $87.60. Spire Inc. has a twelve month low of $69.94 and a twelve month high of $95.31.

Spire (NYSE:SR) last announced 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 firm had revenue of $1.02 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.07 billion. Spire had a return on equity of 9.49% and a net margin of 13.97%.The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm earned $3.60 earnings per share. Research analysts expect that Spire Inc. will post 5.18 EPS for the current year.

Spire Dividend Announcement

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 given a dividend of $0.825 per share. This represents a $3.30 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.8%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, June 11th. Spire’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 58.00%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Spire

A number of large investors have recently made changes to their positions in SR. Adage Capital Partners GP L.L.C. lifted its stake in Spire by 158.1% in the second quarter. Adage Capital Partners GP L.L.C. now owns 1,000,000 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $72,990,000 after acquiring an additional 612,500 shares during the period. Norges Bank purchased a new position in Spire during the 4th quarter valued at $46,226,000. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA purchased a new position in Spire during the 3rd quarter valued at $43,756,000. Invesco Ltd. raised its holdings in Spire by 44.4% in the 3rd quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 846,263 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $68,987,000 after purchasing an additional 260,344 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Goldman Sachs Group Inc. raised its holdings in Spire by 40.2% in the 4th quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 647,646 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $53,560,000 after purchasing an additional 185,796 shares in the last quarter. 87.36% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

SR has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Wall Street Zen lowered Spire from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Saturday. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their target price on shares of Spire from $81.00 to $87.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, January 28th. UBS Group lowered 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. Morgan Stanley reissued an “overweight” rating and set a $102.00 price target on shares of Spire in a research report on Tuesday, April 21st. Finally, Weiss Ratings raised shares of Spire from a “hold (c+)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a report on Thursday, February 5th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seven have given a Buy rating and three have assigned a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Spire presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $95.50.

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.