LADENBURG THALM/SH SH Upgrades Spire (NYSE:SR) to “Strong-Buy”

Spire (NYSE:SR) was upgraded by stock analysts at LADENBURG THALM/SH SH to a “strong-buy” rating in a note issued to investors on Monday,Zacks.com reports.

Several other research firms have also recently weighed in on SR. StockNews.com raised shares of Spire from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday. Janney Montgomery Scott began coverage on shares of Spire in a report on Tuesday, December 17th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $73.00 price objective on the stock. Mizuho upgraded shares of Spire from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and upped their price objective for the stock from $65.00 to $76.00 in a report on Friday, December 20th. Stifel Nicolaus decreased their price objective on shares of Spire from $70.00 to $69.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, November 22nd. Finally, UBS Group upped their price objective on shares of Spire from $75.00 to $80.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Thursday, November 21st. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, two have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $74.00.

Spire Stock Up 0.2 %

Shares of NYSE SR opened at $76.42 on Monday. Spire has a 12-month low of $57.27 and a 12-month high of $78.80. The stock has a market cap of $4.46 billion, a PE ratio of 18.50, a P/E/G ratio of 2.82 and a beta of 0.53. The company has a current ratio of 0.50, a quick ratio of 0.37 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.21. The company has a 50-day moving average of $72.69 and a 200 day moving average of $68.97.

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 the consensus estimate 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, sell-side analysts predict that Spire will post 4.5 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Spire

A number of large investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in shares of Spire by 0.8% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 6,168,221 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $418,390,000 after purchasing an additional 46,434 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp increased its position in shares of Spire by 1.4% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 3,154,230 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $214,535,000 after purchasing an additional 44,969 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its position in shares of Spire by 5.5% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,385,452 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $93,244,000 after buying an additional 71,798 shares during the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP grew its position in shares of Spire by 29.0% in 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 buying an additional 229,662 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its position in shares of 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 buying an additional 15,835 shares during the last quarter. 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.