Scotiabank Initiates Coverage on Spire (NYSE:SR)

Equities research analysts at Scotiabank started coverage on shares of Spire (NYSE:SR) in a research note issued on Tuesday, Marketbeat reports. The firm set a “sector perform” rating and a $79.00 price target on the utilities provider’s stock. Scotiabank’s price objective would suggest a potential upside of 2.76% from the stock’s previous close.

SR has been the topic of a number of other reports. Morgan Stanley dropped their price target on Spire from $91.00 to $88.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, September 18th. BTIG Research restated a “buy” rating and set a $102.00 price objective on shares of Spire in a research report on Monday, September 21st. Weiss Ratings downgraded Spire from a “buy (b)” rating to a “buy (b-)” rating in a research note on Friday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and issued a $85.00 target price (up from $84.00) on shares of Spire in a research report on Friday, June 26th. Finally, Mizuho assumed coverage on Spire in a research note on Tuesday, July 7th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $88.00 target price on the stock. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seven have assigned a Buy rating and six have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $92.50.

Spire Trading Down 0.4%

NYSE SR opened at $76.88 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.61, a quick ratio of 0.27 and a current ratio of 0.37. Spire has a one year low of $75.85 and a one year high of $95.31. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $81.38 and a 200-day simple moving average of $84.25. The firm has a market capitalization of $4.54 billion, a PE ratio of 8.57, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.73 and a beta of 0.54.

Spire (NYSE:SR) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, August 5th. The utilities provider reported ($0.26) earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of ($0.32) by $0.06. Spire had a net margin of 21.48% and a return on equity of 8.65%. The firm had revenue of $420.20 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $394.62 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $0.01 earnings per share. Spire’s quarterly revenue was up 19.2% on a year-over-year basis. Spire has set its FY 2026 guidance at 3.900-4.100 EPS. On average, equities analysts forecast that Spire will post 4.01 earnings per share for the current year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Spire

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. BlackRock Inc. acquired a new stake in Spire during the second quarter valued at approximately $667,642,000. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its position in Spire by 3.1% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,579,856 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $130,672,000 after buying an additional 47,106 shares during the last quarter. Captrust Financial Advisors increased its holdings in shares of Spire by 1.7% in the fourth quarter. Captrust Financial Advisors now owns 1,240,395 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $102,581,000 after buying an additional 20,224 shares in the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP increased its holdings in shares of Spire by 1.4% in the second quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 667,616 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $52,134,000 after buying an additional 8,927 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Spire during the 4th quarter valued at $46,226,000. Institutional investors own 87.36% of the company’s stock.

About Spire

Spire Inc is an energy company headquartered in St. Louis, Missouri. Through its regulated utility operations, the company distributes natural gas to residential, commercial and industrial customers in Missouri and Alabama, serving communities through local natural gas infrastructure and related customer services.

Spire also operates businesses involved in natural gas marketing, storage and pipeline transportation. These operations support the company’s utility activities and provide natural gas supply, logistics and infrastructure services to utilities, commercial and industrial customers, and other market participants.

The company traces its history to 1857, when it was established as Laclede Gas Company.