Sempra (NYSE:SRE) Lowered to Hold Rating by Argus

Argus lowered shares of Sempra (NYSE:SRE) from a buy rating to a hold rating in a report published on Tuesday morning, MarketBeat Ratings reports.

A number of other brokerages have also recently commented on SRE. Jefferies Financial Group reissued a “hold” rating and issued a $77.00 price objective (down from $96.00) on shares of Sempra in a research note on Monday, March 3rd. The Goldman Sachs Group cut shares of Sempra from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and lowered their price objective for the company from $99.00 to $76.00 in a research note on Wednesday, February 26th. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price objective on shares of Sempra from $96.00 to $88.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, February 26th. BMO Capital Markets lowered their price objective on shares of Sempra from $92.00 to $78.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, March 4th. Finally, UBS Group cut shares of Sempra from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and lowered their price objective for the company from $95.00 to $78.00 in a research note on Wednesday, February 26th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Sempra currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $81.50.

Sempra Stock Performance

NYSE:SRE opened at $70.74 on Tuesday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.47, a current ratio of 0.52 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.89. Sempra has a fifty-two week low of $64.89 and a fifty-two week high of $95.77. The stock has a market cap of $46.09 billion, a PE ratio of 15.58, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.19 and a beta of 0.76. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $79.04 and its 200-day simple moving average is $83.84.

Sempra (NYSE:SRE) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 25th. The utilities provider reported $1.50 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.47 by $0.03. Sempra had a net margin of 22.63% and a return on equity of 8.06%. The business had revenue of $3.76 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.73 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $1.13 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.6% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts expect that Sempra will post 4.76 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Sempra Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 15th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, March 20th will be issued a dividend of $0.645 per share. This is a positive change from Sempra’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.62. This represents a $2.58 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.65%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, March 20th. Sempra’s dividend payout ratio is presently 58.37%.

Insider Transactions at Sempra

In other news, CEO Jeffrey W. Martin sold 49,737 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, January 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $82.94, for a total transaction of $4,125,186.78. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2 shares in the company, valued at $165.88. This represents a 100.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, Director Cynthia J. Warner acquired 700 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 6th. The shares were bought at an average price of $70.65 per share, for a total transaction of $49,455.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director now owns 8,759 shares in the company, valued at approximately $618,823.35. This trade represents a 8.69 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Insiders have purchased a total of 9,319 shares of company stock worth $651,676 in the last three months. Company insiders own 0.24% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in Sempra by 0.8% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 63,018,055 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $5,527,944,000 after buying an additional 490,269 shares during the period. Wellington Management Group LLP raised its holdings in Sempra by 11.9% in the fourth quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 38,407,154 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $3,369,076,000 after buying an additional 4,082,261 shares during the period. State Street Corp raised its holdings in Sempra by 4.9% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 32,940,620 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $2,774,974,000 after buying an additional 1,539,026 shares during the period. FMR LLC raised its holdings in Sempra by 8.0% in the fourth quarter. FMR LLC now owns 20,489,918 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,797,376,000 after buying an additional 1,511,313 shares during the period. Finally, Norges Bank acquired a new stake in Sempra in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $1,535,000,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 89.65% of the company’s stock.

Sempra Company Profile

Sempra operates as an energy infrastructure company in the United States and internationally. It operates through three segments: Sempra California, Sempra Texas Utilities, and Sempra Infrastructure. The Sempra California segment provides electric services; and natural gas services to San Diego County.