Spire (NYSE:SR) Upgraded at LADENBURG THALM/SH SH

Spire (NYSE:SR) was upgraded by LADENBURG THALM/SH SH to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report issued on Monday,Zacks.com reports.

A number of other brokerages also recently weighed in on SR. Bank of America assumed coverage on shares of Spire in a research report on Friday, December 13th. They issued a “neutral” rating and a $70.00 price objective for the company. Morgan Stanley decreased their price objective on shares of Spire from $77.00 to $75.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, November 22nd. UBS Group upped their price objective on shares of Spire from $75.00 to $80.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 21st. Mizuho upgraded shares of Spire from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating and upped their price objective for the stock from $65.00 to $76.00 in a research report on Friday, December 20th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus cut their target price on shares of Spire from $70.00 to $69.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, November 22nd. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, two have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $74.00.

Spire Trading Up 0.2 %

NYSE SR opened at $76.42 on Monday. The company has a market capitalization of $4.46 billion, a PE ratio of 18.50, a P/E/G ratio of 2.82 and a beta of 0.53. The company has a fifty day moving average of $72.69 and a 200 day moving average of $68.97. 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 current ratio of 0.50 and a quick ratio of 0.37.

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

Institutional Trading of Spire

Large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Meeder Asset Management Inc. purchased a new stake in Spire during the 3rd quarter valued at about $25,000. Golden State Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in Spire during the 4th quarter valued at about $27,000. GAMMA Investing LLC grew its stake in Spire by 87.2% during the 4th quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 438 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $30,000 after acquiring an additional 204 shares in the last quarter. Lee Danner & Bass Inc. purchased a new stake in Spire during the 4th quarter valued at about $32,000. Finally, Larson Financial Group LLC grew its stake in Spire by 1,318.4% during the 3rd quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC now owns 539 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $36,000 after acquiring an additional 501 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 87.36% of the company’s stock.

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.