Spire (NYSE:SR) Price Target Raised to $72.00

Spire (NYSE:SR) had its price target boosted by research analysts at Guggenheim from $67.00 to $72.00 in a research note issued to investors on Tuesday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has a “neutral” rating on the utilities provider’s stock. Guggenheim’s price target would indicate a potential downside of 8.03% from the company’s previous close.

A number of other analysts also recently commented on the company. Janney Montgomery Scott assumed coverage on Spire in a research note on Tuesday, December 17th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $73.00 target price on the stock. Mizuho raised their price objective on shares of Spire from $76.00 to $82.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 19th. Morgan Stanley boosted their target price on shares of Spire from $75.00 to $78.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 20th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upgraded shares of Spire from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and raised their price target for the company from $72.00 to $85.00 in a research report on Thursday, March 20th. Finally, Bank of America began coverage on shares of Spire in a research report on Friday, December 13th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $70.00 price objective for the company. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating, three have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $75.64.

Spire Stock Up 0.0 %

Shares of NYSE:SR traded up $0.04 during trading hours on Tuesday, hitting $78.29. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 28,626 shares, compared to its average volume of 377,351. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.21, a current ratio of 0.50 and a quick ratio of 0.37. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $74.41 and its 200 day moving average price is $69.70. Spire has a 52 week low of $57.27 and a 52 week high of $79.11. The company has a market capitalization of $4.57 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.95, a P/E/G ratio of 2.82 and a beta of 0.53.

Spire (NYSE:SR) last released 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 net margin of 9.70% and a return on equity of 7.88%. As a group, research analysts expect that Spire will post 4.5 EPS for the current year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in Spire by 0.8% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 6,168,221 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $418,390,000 after purchasing an additional 46,434 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp boosted its position in Spire by 1.4% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 3,154,230 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $214,535,000 after acquiring an additional 44,969 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its position in Spire by 5.5% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,385,452 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $93,244,000 after acquiring an additional 71,798 shares during the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP grew its stake in Spire by 29.0% during the 4th quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 1,022,870 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $69,381,000 after acquiring an additional 229,662 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its holdings in Spire by 1.6% in the 4th quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,002,938 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $68,028,000 after acquiring an additional 15,835 shares during the last quarter. 87.36% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.