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

Spire Inc. (NYSE:SR) announced a quarterly dividend on Thursday, January 30th,RTT News reports. Stockholders 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 dividend yield of 4.38%.

Spire has increased its dividend by an average of 5.0% per year over the last three years and has raised its dividend annually for the last 21 consecutive years. Spire has a dividend payout ratio of 63.7% meaning its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Analysts expect Spire to earn $4.87 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 64.5%.

Spire Price Performance

Shares of Spire stock traded up $2.23 during trading hours on Thursday, reaching $71.68. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 320,105 shares, compared to its average volume of 337,453. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $69.06 and a 200-day moving average price of $66.76. Spire has a one year low of $56.36 and a one year high of $73.64. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.24, a current ratio of 0.45 and a quick ratio of 0.30. The stock has a market cap of $4.14 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.63, a P/E/G ratio of 2.65 and a beta of 0.57.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on shares of Spire from $73.00 to $75.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 21st. Mizuho upgraded shares of Spire from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and upped their price target for the company from $65.00 to $76.00 in a research note on Friday, December 20th. UBS Group upped their price target on shares of Spire from $75.00 to $80.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 21st. Janney Montgomery Scott started coverage on shares of Spire in a research note on Tuesday, December 17th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $73.00 price target on the stock. Finally, Bank of America began coverage on shares of Spire in a research note on Friday, December 13th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $70.00 price target on the stock. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating and two have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $71.50.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Paul D. Koonce acquired 1,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, December 2nd. The stock was bought at an average price of $73.61 per share, for a total transaction of $73,610.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 2,425 shares in the company, valued at $178,504.25. This represents a 70.18 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Treasurer Adam W. Woodard sold 1,150 shares of the company’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 transaction, the treasurer now owns 2,587 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $174,544.89. The trade was a 30.77 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 2.33% 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.