Morgan Stanley Cuts Spire (NYSE:SR) Price Target to $75.00

Spire (NYSE:SR) had its target price trimmed by Morgan Stanley from $77.00 to $75.00 in a report released on Friday morning,Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has an equal weight rating on the utilities provider’s stock.

SR has been the topic of several other research reports. UBS Group raised their price objective on Spire from $75.00 to $80.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Thursday. Stifel Nicolaus dropped their price objective on Spire from $70.00 to $69.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday. StockNews.com cut Spire from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Thursday. LADENBURG THALM/SH SH cut Spire from a “neutral” rating to a “sell” rating and lowered their target price for the stock from $65.50 to $60.50 in a report on Thursday, October 17th. Finally, Mizuho increased their target price on Spire from $62.00 to $65.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, November 19th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating and one has issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $68.06.

Spire Stock Performance

SR stock opened at $72.55 on Friday. The business’s fifty day moving average is $65.87 and its 200-day moving average is $63.85. The company has a quick ratio of 0.35, a current ratio of 0.45 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.24. The company has a market cap of $4.19 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.83, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.13 and a beta of 0.52. Spire has a twelve month low of $56.36 and a twelve month high of $72.71.

Spire Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, January 3rd. Investors of record on Wednesday, December 11th will be paid a $3.14 dividend. This is an increase from Spire’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.76. This represents a $12.56 annualized dividend and a yield of 17.31%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, December 11th. Spire’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 72.85%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Spire

Several hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Blue Trust Inc. lifted its position in Spire by 26.8% during the second quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 761 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $47,000 after acquiring an additional 161 shares during the last quarter. Crossmark Global Holdings Inc. lifted its position in Spire by 5.2% during the third quarter. Crossmark Global Holdings Inc. now owns 3,572 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $240,000 after acquiring an additional 177 shares during the last quarter. Creative Planning lifted its position in Spire by 2.7% during the third quarter. Creative Planning now owns 7,126 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $480,000 after acquiring an additional 190 shares during the last quarter. Missouri Trust & Investment Co raised its position in shares of Spire by 28.6% in the third quarter. Missouri Trust & Investment Co now owns 900 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $61,000 after buying an additional 200 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Verdence Capital Advisors LLC raised its position in shares of Spire by 4.5% in the third quarter. Verdence Capital Advisors LLC now owns 5,327 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $358,000 after buying an additional 228 shares in the last quarter. 87.36% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.