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

Spire (NYSE:SR) had its target price cut by Morgan Stanley from $77.00 to $75.00 in a research report report published on Friday morning,Benzinga reports. They currently have an equal weight rating on the utilities provider’s stock.

Other analysts have also recently issued research reports about the stock. Mizuho upped their target price on shares of Spire from $62.00 to $65.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, November 19th. UBS Group raised their price objective on shares of Spire from $75.00 to $80.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 21st. StockNews.com lowered Spire from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 21st. LADENBURG THALM/SH SH lowered shares of 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, Stifel Nicolaus decreased their price objective on shares of Spire from $70.00 to $69.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a report on Friday. 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’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Spire presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $68.06.

Spire Price Performance

NYSE SR opened at $73.39 on Friday. Spire has a twelve month low of $56.36 and a twelve month high of $73.52. The stock has a market capitalization of $4.24 billion, a PE ratio of 16.95, a P/E/G ratio of 3.22 and a beta of 0.52. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $65.87 and a 200 day simple moving average of $63.87. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.24, a quick ratio of 0.30 and a current ratio of 0.45.

Spire Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, January 3rd. Investors of record on Wednesday, December 11th will be given a dividend of $3.14 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Wednesday, December 11th. This is an increase from Spire’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.76. This represents a $12.56 annualized dividend and a yield of 17.11%. Spire’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 70.07%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in SR. Meeder Asset Management Inc. bought a new position in shares of Spire during the 3rd quarter worth about $25,000. International Assets Investment Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Spire in the second quarter valued at approximately $31,000. LRI Investments LLC purchased a new position in Spire during the 1st quarter worth $35,000. Larson Financial Group LLC increased its stake in Spire by 1,318.4% in the 3rd quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC now owns 539 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $36,000 after buying an additional 501 shares during the last quarter. Finally, EntryPoint Capital LLC purchased a new position in Spire in the first quarter worth $47,000. 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.