Royal Bank of Canada Reaffirms “Sector Perform” Rating for Spire (NYSE:SR)

Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed their sector perform rating on shares of Spire (NYSE:SR) in a research report report published on Tuesday morning, Benzinga reports. Royal Bank of Canada currently has a $65.00 target price on the utilities provider’s stock.

Several other brokerages have also issued reports on SR. UBS Group began coverage on shares of Spire in a research report on Friday, April 12th. They set a buy rating and a $68.00 target price for the company. Mizuho dropped their target price on shares of Spire from $66.00 to $64.00 and set a buy rating for the company in a research report on Monday, January 22nd. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, four have assigned a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of Hold and an average target price of $62.25.

Spire Price Performance

SR stock opened at $59.40 on Tuesday. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $59.71 and a 200-day moving average of $59.77. The company has a current ratio of 0.55, a quick ratio of 0.43 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.16. Spire has a 12 month low of $53.77 and a 12 month high of $70.60. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.27 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.01, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.67 and a beta of 0.51.

Spire (NYSE:SR) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 1st. The utilities provider reported $1.47 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.37 by $0.10. Spire had a net margin of 8.11% and a return on equity of 8.27%. The company had revenue of $756.60 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $688.88 million. During the same period last year, the business earned $1.55 earnings per share. Spire’s revenue was down 7.1% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Spire will post 4.35 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Spire Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, April 2nd. Shareholders of record on Monday, March 11th were paid a dividend of $0.755 per share. This represents a $3.02 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 5.08%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, March 8th. Spire’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 81.40%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, Treasurer Adam W. Woodard sold 1,229 shares of Spire stock in a transaction on Friday, March 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $59.58, for a total value of $73,223.82. Following the transaction, the treasurer now directly owns 1,560 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $92,944.80. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. In related news, Treasurer Adam W. Woodard sold 1,229 shares of Spire stock in a transaction on Friday, March 15th. The shares were sold at an average price of $59.58, for a total value of $73,223.82. Following the sale, the treasurer now owns 1,560 shares in the company, valued at $92,944.80. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, insider Joseph B. Hampton sold 1,294 shares of Spire stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $58.13, for a total transaction of $75,220.22. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 6,768 shares in the company, valued at approximately $393,423.84. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 2.86% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Spire

A number of hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. Fifth Third Bancorp boosted its stake in Spire by 81.9% in the 3rd quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp now owns 644 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $36,000 after purchasing an additional 290 shares in the last quarter. Quarry LP boosted its stake in Spire by 817.5% in the 2nd quarter. Quarry LP now owns 578 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $37,000 after purchasing an additional 515 shares in the last quarter. Cohen & Steers Inc. boosted its stake in Spire by 31.8% in the 1st quarter. Cohen & Steers Inc. now owns 639 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $46,000 after purchasing an additional 154 shares in the last quarter. Signaturefd LLC boosted its stake in Spire by 34.4% in the 4th quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 887 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $55,000 after purchasing an additional 227 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Qube Research & Technologies Ltd bought a new position in Spire in the 3rd quarter worth about $65,000. Institutional investors own 87.36% of the company’s stock.

Spire Company Profile

Spire Inc, together with its subsidiaries, engages in the purchase, retail distribution, and sale of natural gas to residential, commercial, industrial, and other end-users of natural gas in the United States. The company operates through three segments: Gas Utility, Gas Marketing, and Midstream. It is also involved in the marketing of natural gas and related services; and transportation and storage of natural gas.