Morgan Stanley Has Lowered Expectations for Spire (NYSE:SR) Stock Price

Spire (NYSE:SR - Get Free Report) had its price target reduced by equities researchers at Morgan Stanley from $77.00 to $75.00 in a research note issued on Friday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage presently has an "equal weight" rating on the utilities provider's stock. Morgan Stanley's price target indicates a potential upside of 3.38% from the company's previous close.

A number of other research analysts have also issued reports on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on shares of Spire from $73.00 to $75.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a report on Thursday. Stifel Nicolaus dropped their price objective on shares of Spire from $70.00 to $69.00 and set a "hold" rating on the stock in a report on Friday. LADENBURG THALM/SH SH cut shares of Spire from a "neutral" rating to a "sell" rating and reduced their price objective for the company from $65.50 to $60.50 in a report on Thursday, October 17th. Mizuho raised their price objective on Spire from $62.00 to $65.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Tuesday. Finally, UBS Group upped their target price on Spire from $75.00 to $80.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, five have given a hold rating and one has assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $68.06.

Spire Stock Performance

Spire stock traded up $1.89 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $72.55. The company had a trading volume of 500,350 shares, compared to its average volume of 353,650. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $65.87 and a 200 day moving average of $63.84. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.24, a current ratio of 0.45 and a quick ratio of 0.35. The firm has a market cap of $4.19 billion, a PE ratio of 16.83, a PEG ratio of 3.13 and a beta of 0.52. Spire has a one year low of $56.36 and a one year high of $72.71.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Spire

Several institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in SR. Manning & Napier Advisors LLC bought a new position in Spire during the second quarter valued at $2,233,000. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. increased its holdings in Spire by 197.4% during the second quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 162,195 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $9,850,000 after buying an additional 107,662 shares during the period. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Spire during the 3rd quarter worth $787,000. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of Spire by 1.2% during the first 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 during the last quarter. Finally, Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC boosted its stake in Spire by 116.2% in the third quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 28,025 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $1,886,000 after acquiring an additional 15,060 shares in the last quarter. 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.