Sempra (NYSE:SRE) Receives $81.33 Average Target Price from Brokerages

Sempra (NYSE:SRE) has been given a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” by the fourteen ratings firms that are currently covering the stock, Marketbeat Ratings reports. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the company. The average 1 year target price among brokerages that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $80.46.

SRE has been the topic of several research reports. Guggenheim cut their price objective on shares of Sempra from $95.00 to $87.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, February 26th. Barclays lowered Sempra from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and cut their price target for the stock from $95.00 to $72.00 in a report on Thursday, February 27th. Citigroup decreased their price objective on Sempra from $93.00 to $70.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday. Jefferies Financial Group reaffirmed a “hold” rating and set a $77.00 target price (down from $96.00) on shares of Sempra in a research report on Monday, March 3rd. Finally, Mizuho reduced their price target on shares of Sempra from $92.00 to $76.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, February 26th.

Insider Activity at Sempra

In other news, SVP Alexander Lisa Larroque sold 2,755 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $81.93, for a total transaction of $225,717.15. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 13,905 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,139,236.65. This represents a 16.54 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, EVP Justin Christopher Bird sold 4,817 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, April 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $71.23, for a total value of $343,114.91. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 19,778 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,408,786.94. The trade was a 19.59 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders acquired 9,319 shares of company stock valued at $651,676 and sold 57,309 shares valued at $4,694,019. 0.24% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Sempra

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Sempra by 0.8% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 63,018,055 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $5,527,944,000 after acquiring an additional 490,269 shares during the period. Wellington Management Group LLP lifted its holdings in Sempra by 11.9% during the 4th quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 38,407,154 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $3,369,076,000 after purchasing an additional 4,082,261 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC boosted its stake in Sempra by 8.0% in the 4th quarter. FMR LLC now owns 20,489,918 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,797,376,000 after purchasing an additional 1,511,313 shares during the period. Norges Bank purchased a new position in Sempra during the 4th quarter valued at about $1,535,000,000. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC increased its position in shares of Sempra by 2.4% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 13,072,966 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,143,248,000 after buying an additional 311,094 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 89.65% of the company’s stock.

Sempra Stock Down 1.6 %

Shares of Sempra stock opened at $66.95 on Tuesday. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $73.86 and its 200 day moving average is $81.98. Sempra has a one year low of $61.90 and a one year high of $95.77. The firm has a market cap of $43.65 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.75, a PEG ratio of 2.19 and a beta of 0.65. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.89, a current ratio of 0.52 and a quick ratio of 0.47.

Sempra (NYSE:SRE) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 25th. The utilities provider reported $1.50 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.47 by $0.03. Sempra had a net margin of 22.63% and a return on equity of 8.06%. The company had revenue of $3.76 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.73 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $1.13 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 7.6% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts anticipate that Sempra will post 4.76 EPS for the current year.

Sempra Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 15th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, March 20th will be paid a $0.645 dividend. This represents a $2.58 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.85%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, March 20th. This is an increase from Sempra’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.62. Sempra’s payout ratio is presently 58.37%.

About Sempra

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.