Analysts Set Spire Inc. (NYSE:SR) PT at $66.19

Shares of Spire Inc. (NYSE:SR) have been assigned an average recommendation of “Reduce” from the eight research firms that are currently covering the company, Marketbeat.com reports. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell recommendation, five have issued a hold recommendation and one has assigned a buy recommendation to the company. The average 1 year price objective among brokers that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $66.19.

A number of analysts have commented on the stock. Morgan Stanley upped their target price on shares of Spire from $70.00 to $76.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday, September 25th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price on shares of Spire from $72.00 to $73.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 16th. LADENBURG THALM/SH SH cut shares of Spire from a “neutral” rating to a “sell” rating and reduced their price objective for the stock from $65.50 to $60.50 in a research note on Thursday, October 17th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus raised their target price on shares of Spire from $64.00 to $70.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 1st.

Insider Buying and Selling at Spire

In other news, VP Gerard J. Gorla sold 500 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, August 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $64.82, for a total transaction of $32,410.00. Following the sale, the vice president now owns 7,311 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $473,899.02. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. 2.86% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Spire

A number of large investors have recently made changes to their positions in SR. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in Spire by 1.2% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 5,626,863 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $345,321,000 after purchasing an additional 65,486 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its position in shares of Spire by 8.3% during the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 944,387 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $57,351,000 after acquiring an additional 72,119 shares during the last quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. grew its position in shares of Spire by 11.0% during the second quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 698,819 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $42,439,000 after acquiring an additional 69,020 shares during the last quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans grew its position in shares of Spire by 1.7% during the second quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans now owns 644,525 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $39,142,000 after acquiring an additional 10,562 shares during the last quarter. Finally, The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company lifted its holdings in shares of Spire by 0.5% during the second quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 501,852 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $30,477,000 after purchasing an additional 2,598 shares during the period. 87.36% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Spire Stock Down 0.4 %

Shares of Spire stock opened at $62.24 on Thursday. The company has a market cap of $3.59 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.96, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.76 and a beta of 0.52. The company’s 50 day moving average is $65.57 and its 200 day moving average is $63.35. Spire has a twelve month low of $56.36 and a twelve month high of $68.02. The company has a quick ratio of 0.35, a current ratio of 0.48 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.11.

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.