Spire Inc. (NYSE:SR – Get Rating) shares dropped 4.7% during mid-day trading on Monday after Guggenheim lowered their price target on the stock from $67.00 to $61.00. The stock traded as low as $65.23 and last traded at $65.52. Approximately 2,915 shares changed hands during trading, a decline of 99% from the average daily volume of 330,409 shares. The stock had previously closed at $68.74.
Several other research firms have also commented on SR. Royal Bank of Canada upped their target price on Spire from $69.00 to $75.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Monday, November 21st. StockNews.com raised shares of Spire from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Friday, November 25th. Mizuho decreased their target price on shares of Spire from $77.00 to $72.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, November 18th. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price target on shares of Spire from $78.00 to $71.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, October 19th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered shares of Spire from an “overweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $69.00 price target on the stock. in a report on Monday. Eight research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, According to MarketBeat.com, Spire currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $70.17.
Institutional Investors Weigh In On Spire
Several institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. BlackRock Inc. raised its stake in shares of Spire by 1.0% in the 3rd quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 6,275,773 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $391,169,000 after acquiring an additional 60,640 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Spire by 2.6% during the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 5,411,808 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $337,318,000 after purchasing an additional 136,434 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp boosted its position in shares of Spire by 2.6% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 2,350,580 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $148,082,000 after buying an additional 60,351 shares during the period. Fuller & Thaler Asset Management Inc. grew its stake in shares of Spire by 20.7% in the first quarter. Fuller & Thaler Asset Management Inc. now owns 1,600,914 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $114,882,000 after buying an additional 274,260 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Macquarie Group Ltd. raised its holdings in shares of Spire by 1.4% during the 3rd quarter. Macquarie Group Ltd. now owns 1,251,602 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $78,377,000 after buying an additional 17,019 shares during the period. 95.64% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.
Spire Stock Down 5.7 %
The stock has a market capitalization of $3.40 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.42, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.14 and a beta of 0.40. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $67.84 and a 200 day moving average of $71.31. The company has a current ratio of 0.68, a quick ratio of 0.50 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.15.
Spire Cuts Dividend
The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, January 4th. Stockholders of record on Monday, December 12th will be given a dividend of $0.14 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, December 9th. This represents a $0.56 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 0.86%. Spire’s payout ratio is currently 68.84%.
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 two segments, Gas Utility and Gas Marketing. It is also involved in the marketing of natural gas.