Spire (NYSE:SR) Price Target Raised to $73.00 at Wells Fargo & Company

Spire (NYSE:SR) had its price objective boosted by Wells Fargo & Company from $72.00 to $73.00 in a report issued on Wednesday, Benzinga reports. The firm currently has an “equal weight” rating on the utilities provider’s stock. Wells Fargo & Company‘s price objective suggests a potential upside of 9.86% from the company’s current price.

SR has been the subject of several other reports. Stifel Nicolaus lifted their price objective on Spire from $64.00 to $70.00 and gave the stock a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, August 1st. Morgan Stanley lifted their price target on shares of Spire from $70.00 to $76.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, September 25th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating and one has assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $65.81.

Spire Stock Up 1.4 %

NYSE:SR traded up $0.89 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, hitting $66.45. 27,251 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 412,104. The company has a market cap of $3.84 billion, a PE ratio of 16.79, a P/E/G ratio of 2.84 and a beta of 0.52. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.11, a current ratio of 0.48 and a quick ratio of 0.35. Spire has a one year low of $54.15 and a one year high of $68.02. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $65.49 and a 200 day moving average price of $62.82.

Spire (NYSE:SR) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 31st. The utilities provider reported ($0.14) earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of ($0.18) by $0.04. Spire had a return on equity of 8.10% and a net margin of 9.40%. The company had revenue of $414.10 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $313.86 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted ($0.42) EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 1.1% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts predict that Spire will post 4.23 EPS for the current year.

Insider Transactions at Spire

In related news, Director Maria V. Fogarty sold 6,590 shares of Spire stock in a transaction on Friday, August 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $65.15, for a total transaction of $429,338.50. Following the transaction, the director now owns 9,800 shares in the company, valued at approximately $638,470. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. In related news, Director Maria V. Fogarty sold 6,590 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, August 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $65.15, for a total transaction of $429,338.50. Following the sale, the director now owns 9,800 shares in the company, valued at approximately $638,470. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, VP Gerard J. Gorla sold 500 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, August 22nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $64.82, for a total value of $32,410.00. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now owns 7,311 shares in the company, valued at approximately $473,899.02. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 2.86% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Spire

A number of large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Manning & Napier Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Spire in the 2nd quarter worth $2,233,000. Clearbridge Investments LLC bought a new stake in shares of Spire in the 1st quarter valued at about $2,401,000. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. grew 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 worth $9,850,000 after buying an additional 107,662 shares during the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP raised its stake in shares of Spire by 19.7% during the 4th quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 374,776 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $23,364,000 after acquiring an additional 61,564 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in Spire by 1.2% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 5,626,863 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $345,321,000 after purchasing an additional 65,486 shares during 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.