Spire Inc. (SR) Stock Price & How to Invest

Spire Inc. is a public utility holding company headquartered in St. Louis with roots going back to the 1850s. Its regulated distribution utilities (Spire Missouri, Spire Alabama, Spire Gulf, Spire Mississippi and Spire Tennessee) buy natural gas, move it through their own distribution and transmission pipelines, and sell it to residential, commercial and industrial customers under rates set by state commissions. A small Midstream segment holds pipeline and storage assets that serve the utilities. The company closed a ~$2.48 billion purchase of Duke Energy's Piedmont Tennessee local distribution business on March 31, 2026, adding more than 200,000 customers around Nashville and nearly 3,800 miles of pipeline, and it agreed in April 2026 to sell its smaller Mississippi utility to Delta Utilities for ~$75 million. Spire's fiscal year ends September 30, which matters when reading any trailing figure.

For investors the picture is a regulated gas utility mid-reshape. Through the first nine months of fiscal 2026 (October through June) operating revenues were ~$2.14 billion and adjusted earnings were ~$5.01 per share, while the seasonally weak fiscal fourth quarter pulls full-year adjusted guidance down to ~$3.90 to $4.10 per share from continuing operations. Fiscal 2027 guidance of ~$5.40 to $5.60 assumes a first full year of Tennessee alongside new Missouri and Alabama rates. Management has reaffirmed a long-term adjusted earnings growth target of 5% to 7%, funded by a ~$4.8 billion five-year capital plan against a utility rate base of ~$8.2 billion. The dividend, raised ~5.1% to ~$3.30 annualized, marks a 23rd consecutive year of increases and is a large part of why the stock is held.

Regulatory outcomes drive nearly everything here: Alabama and Gulf RSE renewal hearings were held in August 2026 with requested returns on equity of ~10.5% to 10.75%, and Spire expects to make its first Missouri future test year rate case filing around November 2026, so an unfavorable order in either place would flow straight to earnings. Financing is the second pressure point, since the ~$2.48 billion Tennessee purchase was funded with cash and a stack of fiscal 2026 debt issuance including ~$200 million of Missouri bonds, ~$200 million of subordinated notes and ~$400 million of senior notes, leaving the company more exposed to interest rates and to rating agency views than it was two years ago. Seasonality can mislead badly: Spire reported a GAAP loss of ~$42.6 million, or ~$(0.72) per diluted share, in the June 2026 quarter, which is normal for a gas distributor in summer but looks alarming out of context. Integrating a newly acquired utility across a fourth state carries execution and service quality risk, and any early stumble tends to be noticed by the commission that sets the rates. Longer term, electrification policy, building codes that discourage new gas hookups, and pipeline safety mandates all bear on how durable a gas-only distribution rate base is over a ten-year capital plan.

9 analysts publish price targets on SR, averaging $92.67 against a $81.83 price as of August 2026, or +13.2%. The published targets run from $85.00 to $100.00, a narrow spread, and the ratings split 6 buy, 4 hold, 0 sell. Over the last six months there has been 1 raise and 2 cuts among the published actions. A price target is what an analyst published on a date, not a prediction, and sell-side ratings skew positive across the whole market.

Read the full SR forecast and price target for the target table, the recent rating actions by firm, and how the consensus has shifted.

We give no verdict on Spire Inc.. Both cases are real, which is why the question is contested at all, so here is the strongest version of each.

The case for buying. Rate base growth is the earnings engine. Spire plans ~$797 million of capital spending in fiscal 2026, ~$4.8 billion across fiscal 2026 through 2030, and ~$11.2 billion over ten years, with roughly 70% of it going to safety and reliability work. The most optimistic published target, $100.00, assumes this works close to its best case.

The case against. Regulatory outcomes drive nearly everything here: Alabama and Gulf RSE renewal hearings were held in August 2026 with requested returns on equity of ~10.5% to 10.75%, and Spire expects to make its first Missouri future test year rate case filing around November 2026, so an unfavorable order in either place would flow straight to earnings. The most pessimistic target, $85.00, is roughly what SR is worth if this bites instead.

Read the full bull and bear case on SR, including what would have to change to break either one. Walnut is not an investment adviser.

A simple financial snapshot. These are approximations and refresh quarterly; for current figures see Spire Inc.'s investor relations page or your broker.

• Revenue (TTM): ~$2.7B, with ~$2.14B in the first nine months of fiscal 2026
• Adjusted EPS guidance: ~$3.90 to $4.10 for FY2026, ~$5.40 to $5.60 for FY2027
• Market cap: ~$4.8B at a share price near ~$81
• Dividend: ~$0.825 per quarter (~$3.30 annualized), ~4.1% yield, 23rd consecutive annual increase
• Utility rate base: ~$8.2B in FY2026, targeted at ~$10.7B by FY2030
• Capital plan: ~$797M in FY2026, ~$4.8B across FY2026 to FY2030, ~$11.2B over ten years

At roughly $81 a share, SR trades near ~20 times the midpoint of fiscal 2026 adjusted guidance and closer to ~15 times the fiscal 2027 midpoint. Those two multiples describe different companies, because fiscal 2027 carries a first full year of Tennessee earnings plus the Missouri and Alabama rates that took effect during fiscal 2026, so anchoring on the trailing number overstates how expensive the shares look. Pure-play gas distributors have generally traded in the high teens to low twenties on forward earnings, which puts Spire inside its peer band rather than at either edge of it.

Other names that sit close to SR: same theme, named as a direct competitor, or held beside it in the same funds. Each entry says which. Worth a look if you are thinking about diversification within a thesis rather than concentration on one ticker.

There are three common ways to get SR exposure. Buy shares (or fractional shares) directly at any major broker. Hold an ETF that includes it, which spreads the position across many companies. Or build it into a focused thematic portfolio, so SR sits alongside other stocks that express the same thesis.

Walnut takes the portfolio route. Describe a thesis where SR fits (for example “AI infrastructure” or “dividend-growth large-caps”) and the AI proposes 5 to 6 constituents with target weights. You review the plan and fund it through your own broker when you're ready.

New to this? Start with how to invest in stocks, see how to analyze a stock with AI, or compare the best AI stock analyzers.

Spire has finished swapping its trading and storage businesses for regulated pipes in the ground, so what happens to SR from here depends mostly on whether four sets of regulators keep approving the capital plan on time.

Whether SR is worth buying today depends more on your time horizon and what you already hold than on any single call. We walk through valuation, what would have to go right, and the risks in is SR a buy or a sell?, and where the stock could go from here in the SR stock forecast.

For income investors, whether SR pays a dividend and how the payout looks is covered in does SR pay a dividend? And to weigh SR against a peer, read the full side-by-side comparisons: SR vs OGS and SR vs NWN.