Spire (NYSE:SR) Price Target Raised to $78.00 at Morgan Stanley

Spire (NYSE:SR) had its target price boosted by stock analysts at Morgan Stanley from $75.00 to $78.00 in a research report issued to clients and investors on Thursday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage presently has an “equal weight” rating on the utilities provider’s stock. Morgan Stanley’s target price points to a potential upside of 0.47% from the company’s current price.

SR has been the topic of a number of other reports. Janney Montgomery Scott assumed coverage on shares of Spire in a research report on Tuesday, December 17th. They set a “neutral” rating and a $73.00 price target on the stock. UBS Group boosted their price target on shares of Spire from $75.00 to $80.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 21st. Mizuho lifted their target price on shares of Spire from $76.00 to $82.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday. LADENBURG THALM/SH SH raised shares of Spire to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday. Finally, StockNews.com raised shares of Spire from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, three have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $76.00.

Spire Price Performance

SR traded up $0.73 on Thursday, reaching $77.64. 145,401 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 403,812. The stock has a market cap of $4.53 billion, a PE ratio of 18.80, a P/E/G ratio of 2.82 and a beta of 0.53. Spire has a twelve month low of $57.27 and a twelve month high of $78.83. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $72.88 and its 200-day moving average price is $69.03. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.21, a current ratio of 0.50 and a quick ratio of 0.37.

Spire (NYSE:SR) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 5th. The utilities provider reported $1.34 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.42 by ($0.08). Spire had a return on equity of 7.88% and a net margin of 9.70%. Sell-side analysts expect that Spire will post 4.5 EPS for the current year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Spire

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in SR. KBC Group NV raised its stake in shares of Spire by 33.1% in the 3rd quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 1,557 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $105,000 after acquiring an additional 387 shares during the period. Swiss National Bank increased its stake in Spire by 4.3% during the 3rd quarter. Swiss National Bank now owns 112,750 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $7,587,000 after buying an additional 4,600 shares during the period. Meeder Asset Management Inc. purchased a new stake in Spire during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $25,000. Commerce Bank increased its stake in Spire by 2.2% during the 3rd quarter. Commerce Bank now owns 24,186 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,627,000 after buying an additional 527 shares during the period. Finally, Intech Investment Management LLC purchased a new stake in Spire during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $790,000. 87.36% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.