Spire (NYSE:SR) Given a $80.00 Price Target at Morgan Stanley

Spire (NYSE:SR) has been given a $80.00 price target by Morgan Stanley in a report issued on Wednesday, Marketbeat.com reports. The brokerage currently has an “equal weight” rating on the utilities provider’s stock. Morgan Stanley’s price target would indicate a potential upside of 10.48% from the stock’s current price.

Several other equities research analysts have also recently issued reports on the stock. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Spire from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Friday, May 9th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price objective on shares of Spire from $85.00 to $83.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, May 28th. Mizuho lifted their price objective on shares of Spire from $76.00 to $82.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 19th. LADENBURG THALM/SH SH raised shares of Spire to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Friday, May 9th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on shares of Spire from $75.00 to $82.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 1st. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating, three have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Spire has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $77.40.

Spire Price Performance

Shares of SR opened at $72.41 on Wednesday. Spire has a fifty-two week low of $58.23 and a fifty-two week high of $79.81. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $74.94 and its 200 day moving average price is $73.11. The company has a market cap of $4.27 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.84, a PEG ratio of 2.45 and a beta of 0.63. The company has a quick ratio of 0.34, a current ratio of 0.43 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.03.

Spire (NYSE:SR) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 30th. The utilities provider reported $3.60 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $3.70 by ($0.10). Spire had a net margin of 10.22% and a return on equity of 8.49%. The firm had revenue of $1.05 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.15 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $3.45 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 6.8% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts forecast that Spire will post 4.5 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Trading of Spire

A number of large investors have recently bought and sold shares of SR. Elevation Point Wealth Partners LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Spire in the 1st quarter worth $216,000. Two Sigma Advisers LP lifted its stake in shares of Spire by 95.1% in the 4th quarter. Two Sigma Advisers LP now owns 23,800 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,614,000 after acquiring an additional 11,600 shares during the period. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. acquired a new stake in shares of Spire in the 4th quarter worth $1,030,000. Bank of New York Mellon Corp lifted its stake in shares of Spire by 15.8% in the 4th quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 778,442 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $52,802,000 after acquiring an additional 106,386 shares during the period. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Spire by 3.6% in the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 834,647 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $56,614,000 after acquiring an additional 28,715 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 87.36% of the company’s stock.

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.