Spire Inc. Raises Dividend; Sees FY Net Economic EPS In Line With View

(RTTNews) - Spire Inc. (SR) said that it raised the quarterly dividend by 7.1 percent to $0.525 per share., based on the strength of 2016 performance and expected growth in 2017. The dividend is payable January 4, 2017, to shareholders of record on December 12, 2016.

The company expects fiscal 2017 net economic earnings to be in the range of $3.50 - $3.60 per fully diluted share. It re-affirmed its annual long-term net economic earnings per share growth target of 4 - 6 percent. Analysts polled by Thomson Reuters expect the company to report earnings of $3.54 per share. Analysts' estimates typically exclude special items.

The company anticipates that capital spending for 2016 to 2020 will increase from $1.8 billion to at least $2.0 billion, driven by higher utility investment and construction of Spire STL Pipeline.