Spire (NYSE:SR) Reaches New 1-Year High – Time to Buy?

Spire Inc. (NYSE:SR)’s share price hit a new 52-week high during mid-day trading on Wednesday . The stock traded as high as $84.07 and last traded at $83.99, with a volume of 361863 shares changing hands. The stock had previously closed at $82.85.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

SR has been the topic of several recent research reports. Jefferies Financial Group upgraded Spire to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 7th. Morgan Stanley lowered their price objective on Spire from $81.00 to $76.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, September 25th. Stifel Nicolaus set a $81.00 price objective on Spire and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 15th. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of Spire in a research report on Wednesday, October 8th. Finally, UBS Group increased their price objective on Spire from $80.00 to $95.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, four have issued a Buy rating, five have issued a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Spire currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $81.36.

Spire Stock Down 0.7%

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.08, a current ratio of 0.37 and a quick ratio of 0.27. The company has a market cap of $5.01 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.34, a PEG ratio of 2.49 and a beta of 0.69. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $78.26 and a 200 day moving average of $76.06.

Spire (NYSE:SR) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, August 5th. The utilities provider reported $0.01 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.09) by $0.10. Spire had a return on equity of 8.66% and a net margin of 11.56%.The company had revenue of $421.90 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $417.27 million. During the same quarter last year, the business earned ($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. Research analysts anticipate that Spire Inc. will post 4.5 earnings per share for the current year.

Spire Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, October 2nd. Shareholders of record on Thursday, September 11th were given a $0.785 dividend. This represents a $3.14 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.7%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, September 11th. Spire’s payout ratio is currently 67.82%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of SR. Nuveen LLC bought a new position in Spire in the first quarter valued at about $73,254,000. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Spire during the second quarter valued at about $45,155,000. Adage Capital Partners GP L.L.C. boosted its stake in shares of Spire by 158.1% during the second quarter. Adage Capital Partners GP L.L.C. now owns 1,000,000 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $72,990,000 after purchasing an additional 612,500 shares in the last quarter. Allianz Asset Management GmbH boosted its stake in shares of Spire by 4,909.4% during the second quarter. Allianz Asset Management GmbH now owns 280,025 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $20,439,000 after purchasing an additional 274,435 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Millennium Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Spire by 110.4% during the first quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 522,323 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $40,872,000 after purchasing an additional 274,124 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors 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.