Guggenheim Cuts Sempra (NYSE:SRE) Price Target to $87.00

Sempra (NYSE:SRE) had its price target lowered by Guggenheim from $95.00 to $87.00 in a research note issued to investors on Wednesday,Benzinga reports. Guggenheim currently has a buy rating on the utilities provider’s stock.

SRE has been the topic of several other research reports. Barclays cut their target price on shares of Sempra from $99.00 to $95.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, January 27th. Morgan Stanley dropped their price target on shares of Sempra from $100.00 to $85.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday. UBS Group cut shares of Sempra from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and decreased their price objective for the company from $95.00 to $78.00 in a research report on Wednesday. The Goldman Sachs Group lowered shares of Sempra from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and dropped their target price for the stock from $99.00 to $76.00 in a report on Wednesday. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company cut their target price on Sempra from $96.00 to $88.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Sempra currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $84.54.

Sempra Stock Performance

Sempra stock opened at $71.50 on Wednesday. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $83.13 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $84.70. 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 twelve month low of $64.89 and a twelve month high of $95.77. The company has a market capitalization of $45.29 billion, a PE ratio of 15.75, a P/E/G ratio of 2.19 and a beta of 0.78.

Sempra (NYSE:SRE) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, February 25th. The utilities provider reported $1.50 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.47 by $0.03. Sempra had a return on equity of 8.06% and a net margin of 22.63%. The company had revenue of $3.76 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.73 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $1.13 EPS. Sempra’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.6% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts expect 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. Shareholders of record on Thursday, March 20th will be paid a dividend of $0.645 per share. This represents a $2.58 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.61%. This is an increase from Sempra’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.62. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, March 20th. Sempra’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 56.11%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CEO Jeffrey W. Martin sold 49,737 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 owns 2 shares in the company, valued at $165.88. This represents a 100.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, SVP Alexander Lisa Larroque sold 2,755 shares of Sempra stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $81.93, for a total transaction of $225,717.15. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 13,905 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,139,236.65. This trade represents a 16.54 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 0.24% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Sempra

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of Sempra during the 4th quarter worth $1,535,000,000. Wellington Management Group LLP raised its holdings in Sempra by 11.9% in 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 during the period. Invesco Ltd. lifted its position in Sempra by 70.6% during the fourth quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 6,666,240 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $584,763,000 after purchasing an additional 2,758,037 shares in the last quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC grew its holdings in Sempra by 71.3% during the fourth quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 4,651,923 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $408,069,000 after purchasing an additional 1,936,865 shares during the period. Finally, FMR LLC increased its position in Sempra by 9.1% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 18,978,605 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,587,181,000 after buying an additional 1,582,653 shares in the last quarter. 89.65% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.