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

Spire (NYSE:SR) had its target price boosted by equities researchers at Morgan Stanley from $91.00 to $99.00 in a note issued to investors on Tuesday,Benzinga reports. The firm currently has an “equal weight” rating on the utilities provider’s stock. Morgan Stanley’s target price suggests a potential upside of 14.49% from the stock’s current price.

A number of other brokerages also recently issued reports on SR. UBS Group raised their price objective on Spire from $80.00 to $95.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, October 13th. Bank of America raised shares of Spire from an “underperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and upped their price objective for the company from $76.00 to $89.00 in a research note on Wednesday, October 29th. BTIG Research raised shares of Spire to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 22nd. Mizuho upped their price target on shares of Spire from $83.00 to $93.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 21st. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group upgraded Spire to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 7th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, three have issued a Buy rating and seven have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $86.75.

Spire Price Performance

SR stock traded up $1.65 during trading on Tuesday, reaching $86.47. 176,653 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 455,249. The company has a market capitalization of $5.10 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.68, a P/E/G ratio of 2.50 and a beta of 0.72. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.08, a current ratio of 0.37 and a quick ratio of 0.27. The company has a 50-day moving average of $83.44 and a two-hundred day moving average of $77.83. Spire has a twelve month low of $64.44 and a twelve month high of $91.11.

Spire (NYSE:SR) last posted its earnings results on Friday, November 14th. The utilities provider reported ($0.47) EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($0.46) by ($0.01). The business had revenue of $334.10 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $439.56 million. Spire had a return on equity of 8.66% and a net margin of 11.56%.The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 13.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned ($0.54) earnings per share. Spire has set its FY 2027 guidance at 5.650-5.850 EPS. FY 2026 guidance at 5.250-5.450 EPS. As a group, equities analysts predict that Spire will post 4.5 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of large investors have recently modified their holdings of SR. CANADA LIFE ASSURANCE Co grew its stake in shares of Spire by 3.8% in the 3rd quarter. CANADA LIFE ASSURANCE Co now owns 82,424 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $6,709,000 after acquiring an additional 3,043 shares in the last quarter. Polymer Capital Management US LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Spire during the third quarter valued at approximately $201,000. Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV lifted its holdings in Spire by 87.5% during the third quarter. Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV now owns 6,757 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $551,000 after acquiring an additional 3,154 shares during the period. Laird Norton Wetherby Wealth Management LLC boosted its position in Spire by 10.7% in the third quarter. Laird Norton Wetherby Wealth Management LLC now owns 8,049 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $656,000 after purchasing an additional 778 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Focus Partners Wealth purchased a new position in Spire in the third quarter worth $667,000. 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.