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

Spire (NYSE:SR) had its price objective hoisted by research analysts at Wells Fargo & Company from $72.00 to $73.00 in a research note issued to investors on Wednesday, Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has an “equal weight” rating on the utilities provider’s stock. Wells Fargo & Company‘s price target would suggest a potential upside of 14.46% from the stock’s previous close.

Several other equities research analysts also recently commented on the stock. Morgan Stanley upped their price objective 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. Stifel Nicolaus upped their price objective on shares of Spire from $64.00 to $70.00 and gave the company a “hold” rating in a report on Thursday, August 1st. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating and one has given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Spire presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $66.19.

Spire Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:SR opened at $63.78 on Wednesday. The company’s 50-day moving average is $65.52 and its 200 day moving average is $62.85. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.11, a quick ratio of 0.35 and a current ratio of 0.48. The company has a market capitalization of $3.68 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.11, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.84 and a beta of 0.52. Spire has a fifty-two week low of $54.15 and a fifty-two week high of $68.02.

Spire (NYSE:SR) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 31st. The utilities provider reported ($0.14) earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.18) by $0.04. The company had revenue of $414.10 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $313.86 million. Spire had a net margin of 9.40% and a return on equity of 8.10%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 1.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned ($0.42) EPS. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Spire will post 4.23 earnings per share for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

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

Institutional Trading of Spire

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in shares of Spire by 1.2% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 5,626,863 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $345,321,000 after buying an additional 65,486 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its holdings in shares of Spire by 8.3% during the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 944,387 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $57,351,000 after purchasing an additional 72,119 shares during the last quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Spire by 11.0% during the 2nd quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 698,819 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $42,439,000 after purchasing an additional 69,020 shares during the last quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans grew its holdings in shares of Spire by 1.7% during the 2nd quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans now owns 644,525 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $39,142,000 after purchasing an additional 10,562 shares during the last quarter. Finally, The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company grew its holdings in shares of Spire by 0.5% during the 2nd quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 501,852 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $30,477,000 after purchasing an additional 2,598 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other 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.