Spire (NYSE:SR) Price Target Cut to $75.00 by Analysts at Morgan Stanley

Spire (NYSE:SR) had its target price lowered by Morgan Stanley from $77.00 to $75.00 in a research note released on Friday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has an equal weight rating on the utilities provider’s stock.

Other analysts have also issued reports about the stock. UBS Group increased their price target on shares of Spire from $75.00 to $80.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday. LADENBURG THALM/SH SH lowered shares of Spire from a “neutral” rating to a “sell” rating and decreased their price target for the company from $65.50 to $60.50 in a report on Thursday, October 17th. Mizuho raised their target price on shares of Spire from $62.00 to $65.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Spire from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Thursday. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on shares of Spire from $73.00 to $75.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating and one has given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $68.06.

Spire Trading Up 2.7 %

NYSE SR opened at $72.55 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $4.19 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.83, a P/E/G ratio of 3.13 and a beta of 0.52. Spire has a 52-week low of $56.36 and a 52-week high of $72.71. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $65.74 and a 200 day moving average price of $63.76. The company has a quick ratio of 0.35, a current ratio of 0.45 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.24.

Spire Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, January 3rd. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, December 11th will be given a $3.14 dividend. This is a boost from Spire’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.76. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, December 11th. This represents a $12.56 annualized dividend and a yield of 17.31%. Spire’s dividend payout ratio is 70.07%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Manning & Napier Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Spire in the second quarter valued at approximately $2,233,000. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. lifted its position in shares of Spire by 197.4% in the 2nd quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 162,195 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $9,850,000 after acquiring an additional 107,662 shares in the last quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Spire in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $787,000. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of Spire by 1.2% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 5,626,863 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $345,321,000 after acquiring an additional 65,486 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC increased its stake in Spire by 116.2% in the 3rd quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 28,025 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,886,000 after buying an additional 15,060 shares during the period. 87.36% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.