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

Spire (NYSE:SR) had its target price reduced by Morgan Stanley from $81.00 to $76.00 in a research report released on Thursday morning, MarketBeat Ratings reports. They currently have an equal weight rating on the utilities provider’s stock.

A number of other research analysts have also commented on the company. Bank of America reaffirmed an “underperform” rating and issued a $76.00 price objective (down from $81.00) on shares of Spire in a report on Friday, August 15th. Stifel Nicolaus set a $81.00 target price on shares of Spire and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 15th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. lowered their price target on shares of Spire from $85.00 to $83.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, May 28th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, three have issued a Buy rating, five have assigned a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $78.80.

Spire Stock Performance

NYSE SR opened at $78.80 on Thursday. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $76.12 and a 200-day moving average of $75.45. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.08, a quick ratio of 0.27 and a current ratio of 0.37. The stock has a market cap of $4.65 billion, a PE ratio of 17.02, a P/E/G ratio of 2.57 and a beta of 0.70. Spire has a 52-week low of $61.56 and a 52-week high of $79.81.

Spire (NYSE:SR) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, August 5th. The utilities provider reported $0.01 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.09) by $0.10. The business had revenue of $421.90 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $417.27 million. Spire had a net margin of 11.56% and a return on equity of 8.66%. Spire’s quarterly revenue was up 1.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned ($0.14) EPS. Spire has set its FY 2025 guidance at 4.400-4.60 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Spire will post 4.5 EPS for the current year.

Spire Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, October 2nd. Investors of record on Thursday, September 11th will be paid a $0.785 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, September 11th. This represents a $3.14 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.0%. Spire’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 67.82%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in SR. Headlands Technologies LLC bought a new stake in shares of Spire during the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $38,000. CANADA LIFE ASSURANCE Co grew its stake in shares of Spire by 4.1% during the second quarter. CANADA LIFE ASSURANCE Co now owns 79,381 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $5,801,000 after buying an additional 3,090 shares during the last quarter. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC increased its holdings in shares of Spire by 80.3% during the second quarter. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC now owns 6,431 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $469,000 after buying an additional 2,865 shares in the last quarter. Corient Private Wealth LLC bought a new position in shares of Spire in the 2nd quarter valued at $400,000. Finally, State of Tennessee Department of Treasury boosted its holdings in shares of Spire by 198.2% during the 2nd quarter. State of Tennessee Department of Treasury now owns 29,530 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $2,155,000 after acquiring an additional 19,627 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors 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.