Mizuho Forecasts Strong Price Appreciation for Spire (NYSE:SR) Stock

Spire (NYSE:SR) had its target price lifted by equities research analysts at Mizuho from $76.00 to $82.00 in a report issued on Wednesday,Benzinga reports. The firm currently has an “outperform” rating on the utilities provider’s stock. Mizuho’s price objective would suggest a potential upside of 5.98% from the company’s previous close.

Several other equities research analysts have also recently commented on SR. UBS Group boosted their price target 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. Stifel Nicolaus dropped their price target on shares of Spire from $70.00 to $69.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, November 22nd. LADENBURG THALM/SH SH raised Spire to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday. Morgan Stanley dropped their price target on Spire from $77.00 to $75.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, November 22nd. Finally, StockNews.com raised Spire from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, three have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Spire currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $76.00.

Spire Stock Performance

SR stock opened at $77.37 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.21, a quick ratio of 0.37 and a current ratio of 0.50. The stock has a market capitalization of $4.51 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.73, a PEG ratio of 2.82 and a beta of 0.53. Spire has a 1 year low of $57.27 and a 1 year high of $78.83. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $73.08 and its two-hundred day moving average is $69.08.

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 net margin of 9.70% and a return on equity of 7.88%. On average, research analysts predict that Spire will post 4.5 EPS for the current year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Spire

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in SR. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in Spire in the 4th quarter worth approximately $42,432,000. Captrust Financial Advisors acquired a new position in shares of Spire during the third quarter worth approximately $39,228,000. Zimmer Partners LP acquired a new position in shares of Spire during the fourth quarter worth approximately $30,083,000. Wellington Management Group LLP lifted its holdings in shares of Spire by 29.0% during the fourth quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 1,022,870 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $69,381,000 after buying an additional 229,662 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Sourcerock Group LLC acquired a new position in shares of Spire during the fourth quarter worth approximately $12,567,000. 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.