Spire Inc. (SR) to Issue Quarterly Dividend of $0.76 on October 2nd

Spire Inc. (NYSE:SR) announced a quarterly dividend on Thursday, July 25th, Zacks reports. Investors of record on Wednesday, September 11th will be paid a dividend of 0.755 per share by the utilities provider on Wednesday, October 2nd. This represents a $3.02 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.46%. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, September 11th.

Spire has raised its dividend payment by an average of 5.0% per year over the last three years and has increased its dividend every year for the last 21 years. Spire has a payout ratio of 65.9% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Analysts expect Spire to earn $4.56 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $3.02 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 66.2%.

Spire Trading Up 1.0 %

SR stock traded up $0.64 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $67.77. The stock had a trading volume of 495,753 shares, compared to its average volume of 348,943. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $61.12 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $60.39. The company has a quick ratio of 0.48, a current ratio of 0.61 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.09. The firm has a market cap of $3.91 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.11, a PEG ratio of 3.11 and a beta of 0.51. Spire has a twelve month low of $53.77 and a twelve month high of $68.02.

Spire (NYSE:SR) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, May 1st. The utilities provider reported $3.45 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.86 by ($0.41). The firm had revenue of $1.13 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $1.21 billion. Spire had a return on equity of 7.88% and a net margin of 9.05%. Spire’s revenue for the quarter was up .5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $3.70 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts expect that Spire will post 4.32 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Spire

In related news, EVP Steven P. Rasche acquired 4,500 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, June 13th. The shares were bought at an average price of $23.83 per share, for a total transaction of $107,235.00. Following the purchase, the executive vice president now directly owns 16,500 shares in the company, valued at approximately $393,195. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Company insiders own 2.86% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts have recently issued reports on SR shares. UBS Group started coverage on Spire in a research report on Friday, April 12th. They set a “buy” rating and a $68.00 target price for the company. Morgan Stanley decreased their price objective on Spire from $67.00 to $64.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, June 24th. StockNews.com upgraded Spire from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, May 3rd. LADENBURG THALM/SH SH started coverage on Spire in a research report on Friday, April 26th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $57.50 price objective for the company. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reiterated a “sector perform” rating and issued a $65.00 price objective on shares of Spire in a research report on Tuesday, April 16th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and one has assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Spire currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $61.83.

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.