Spire Inc. (NYSE:SR) Declares $0.79 Quarterly Dividend

Spire Inc. (NYSE:SR) announced a quarterly dividend on Thursday, January 30th, RTT News reports. Investors of record on Tuesday, March 11th will be given a dividend of 0.785 per share by the utilities provider on Wednesday, April 2nd. This represents a $3.14 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.11%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, March 11th.

Spire has raised its dividend payment by an average of 5.0% annually over the last three years and has increased its dividend every year for the last 22 years. Spire has a dividend payout ratio of 62.8% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Analysts expect Spire to earn $4.88 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $3.14 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 64.3%.

Spire Trading Up 0.6 %

SR stock opened at $76.39 on Friday. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $71.54 and a 200 day moving average price of $68.44. Spire has a fifty-two week low of $57.27 and a fifty-two week high of $78.80. The stock has a market capitalization of $4.46 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.50, a P/E/G ratio of 2.82 and a beta of 0.53. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.21, a current ratio of 0.50 and a quick ratio of 0.37.

Spire (NYSE:SR) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 5th. The utilities provider reported $1.34 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.42 by ($0.08). Spire had a net margin of 9.70% and a return on equity of 7.88%. Analysts expect that Spire will post 4.5 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

SR has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. UBS Group increased their price objective on Spire from $75.00 to $80.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 21st. LADENBURG THALM/SH SH upgraded Spire from a “sell” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $83.00 price objective on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, February 26th. Janney Montgomery Scott began coverage on Spire in a research report on Tuesday, December 17th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $73.00 price objective on the stock. Stifel Nicolaus reduced their price target on Spire from $70.00 to $69.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, November 22nd. Finally, Mizuho upgraded Spire from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and raised their price target for the stock from $65.00 to $76.00 in a research report on Friday, December 20th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating and three have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Spire presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $74.00.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Treasurer Adam W. Woodard sold 1,150 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, December 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $67.47, for a total transaction of $77,590.50. Following the sale, the treasurer now owns 2,587 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $174,544.89. This trade represents a 30.77 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. 2.33% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

About Spire

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.