Spire (NYSE:SR) Reaches New 52-Week High – What’s Next?

Spire Inc. (NYSE:SR)’s stock price reached a new 52-week high on Tuesday . The stock traded as high as $87.42 and last traded at $87.33, with a volume of 373235 shares trading hands. The stock had previously closed at $85.35.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

SR has been the subject of a number of research reports. Bank of America reissued an “underperform” rating and set a $76.00 target price (down from $81.00) on shares of Spire in a research note on Friday, August 15th. Morgan Stanley lowered their price objective on shares of Spire from $81.00 to $76.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, September 25th. UBS Group boosted their price objective on shares of Spire from $80.00 to $95.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, October 13th. Stifel Nicolaus set a $81.00 target price on shares of Spire and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 15th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group raised Spire to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 7th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, four have assigned a Buy rating, five have issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $81.36.

Spire Stock Performance

The company has a market capitalization of $5.15 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.86, a P/E/G ratio of 2.48 and a beta of 0.69. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $78.67 and its 200 day moving average price is $76.15. The company has a current ratio of 0.37, a quick ratio of 0.27 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.08.

Spire (NYSE:SR) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, August 5th. The utilities provider reported $0.01 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of ($0.09) by $0.10. Spire had a return on equity of 8.66% and a net margin of 11.56%.The business had revenue of $421.90 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $417.27 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted ($0.14) earnings per share. Spire’s revenue was up 1.9% on a year-over-year basis. Spire has set its FY 2025 guidance at 4.400-4.60 EPS. Analysts expect that Spire Inc. will post 4.5 earnings per share for the current year.

Spire Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, October 2nd. Investors of record on Thursday, September 11th were paid a $0.785 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, September 11th. This represents a $3.14 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.6%. Spire’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 67.82%.

Institutional Trading of Spire

A number of large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Hantz Financial Services Inc. grew its position in shares of Spire by 1,957.1% in the 2nd quarter. Hantz Financial Services Inc. now owns 432 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $32,000 after acquiring an additional 411 shares during the period. Headlands Technologies LLC bought a new position in Spire during the second quarter worth about $38,000. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. increased its position in Spire by 1,031.5% during the second quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. now owns 611 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $45,000 after buying an additional 557 shares during the last quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. acquired a new position in Spire during the second quarter worth approximately $48,000. Finally, Quarry LP bought a new stake in Spire in the first quarter valued at approximately $50,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 87.36% of the company’s stock.

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.