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 research note issued on Monday,Zacks.com reports.

Other analysts have also recently issued research reports about the stock. Janney Montgomery Scott started coverage on shares of Spire in a research note on Tuesday, December 17th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $73.00 target price for the company. UBS Group raised their target price on shares of Spire from $75.00 to $80.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 21st. Morgan Stanley reduced their target price on shares of Spire from $77.00 to $75.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, November 22nd. Bank of America began coverage on shares of Spire in a research note on Friday, December 13th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $70.00 price objective for the company. Finally, Mizuho upgraded shares of Spire from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and raised their price objective for the company from $65.00 to $76.00 in a research note on Friday, December 20th. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, two have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Spire presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $74.00.

Spire Trading Up 0.2 %

Shares of Spire stock opened at $76.42 on Monday. Spire has a 1 year low of $57.27 and a 1 year high of $78.80. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.21, a quick ratio of 0.37 and a current ratio of 0.50. The company has a market capitalization of $4.46 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.50, a PEG ratio of 2.82 and a beta of 0.53. The company’s fifty day moving average is $72.69 and its two-hundred day moving average is $68.97.

Spire (NYSE:SR) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, February 5th. The utilities provider reported $1.34 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.42 by ($0.08). Spire had a return on equity of 7.88% and a net margin of 9.70%. Analysts forecast that Spire will post 4.5 earnings per share for the current year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of SR. KBC Group NV lifted its position in Spire by 33.1% during the third quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 1,557 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $105,000 after buying an additional 387 shares in the last quarter. Swiss National Bank lifted its position in shares of Spire by 4.3% during the third quarter. Swiss National Bank now owns 112,750 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $7,587,000 after purchasing an additional 4,600 shares in the last quarter. Meeder Asset Management Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Spire during the third quarter worth $25,000. Commerce Bank lifted its position in shares of Spire by 2.2% during the third quarter. Commerce Bank now owns 24,186 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,627,000 after purchasing an additional 527 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Intech Investment Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Spire during the third quarter worth $790,000. 87.36% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.