Morgan Stanley Increases Spire (NYSE:SR) Price Target to $76.00

Spire (NYSE:SR) had its target price lifted by investment analysts at Morgan Stanley from $70.00 to $76.00 in a research note issued to investors on Wednesday, Benzinga reports. The brokerage presently has an “equal weight” rating on the utilities provider’s stock. Morgan Stanley’s target price suggests a potential upside of 13.67% from the stock’s previous close.

Separately, Stifel Nicolaus upped their price objective on Spire from $64.00 to $70.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, August 1st. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating and one has assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $63.83.

Spire Price Performance

Shares of SR traded up $0.07 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, reaching $66.86. The stock had a trading volume of 30,030 shares, compared to its average volume of 424,414. The firm has a market cap of $3.86 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.88, a PEG ratio of 3.17 and a beta of 0.52. Spire has a 12 month low of $53.77 and a 12 month high of $68.02. The business has a fifty day moving average of $65.68 and a 200 day moving average of $62.25. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.11, a quick ratio of 0.35 and a current ratio of 0.48.

Spire (NYSE:SR) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 31st. The utilities provider reported ($0.14) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.18) by $0.04. The company had revenue of $414.10 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $313.86 million. Spire had a net margin of 9.40% and a return on equity of 8.10%. Spire’s revenue for the quarter was down 1.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted ($0.42) EPS. Equities analysts predict that Spire will post 4.23 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity

In other news, VP Gerard J. Gorla sold 500 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, August 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $64.82, for a total value of $32,410.00. Following the sale, the vice president now owns 7,311 shares in the company, valued at $473,899.02. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In other news, Director Maria V. Fogarty sold 6,590 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, August 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $65.15, for a total value of $429,338.50. Following the completion of the sale, the director now directly owns 9,800 shares in the company, valued at $638,470. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, VP Gerard J. Gorla sold 500 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, August 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $64.82, for a total value of $32,410.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now owns 7,311 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $473,899.02. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 2.86% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Spire

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of SR. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its holdings in Spire by 2.3% in the fourth quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 837,103 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $52,185,000 after purchasing an additional 19,032 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new position in Spire in the 4th quarter valued at $24,541,000. UBS Group AG increased its stake in shares of Spire by 153.6% during the fourth quarter. UBS Group AG now owns 184,617 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $11,509,000 after acquiring an additional 111,807 shares during the period. Jones Financial Companies Lllp increased its position in Spire by 30.2% during the 4th quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp now owns 1,349 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $84,000 after purchasing an additional 313 shares during the period. Finally, Tower Research Capital LLC TRC raised its stake in shares of Spire by 592.5% during the 4th quarter. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC now owns 46,338 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $2,889,000 after buying an additional 39,647 shares in the last quarter. 87.36% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.