Analysts Set Sempra (NYSE:SRE) Target Price at $81.33

Sempra (NYSE:SRE) has received a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the fourteen research firms that are currently covering the stock, MarketBeat.com reports. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and eight have assigned a buy recommendation to the company. The average 1 year target price among brokers that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $80.46.

SRE has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Jefferies Financial Group reiterated 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. The Goldman Sachs Group downgraded shares of Sempra from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and dropped their price objective for the stock from $99.00 to $76.00 in a report on Wednesday, February 26th. Guggenheim cut their target price on shares of Sempra from $95.00 to $87.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, February 26th. Mizuho lowered their price target on Sempra from $92.00 to $76.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, February 26th. Finally, UBS Group cut Sempra from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and cut their price objective for the stock from $95.00 to $78.00 in a report on Wednesday, February 26th.

Sempra Trading Down 1.6 %

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

Sempra (NYSE:SRE) last announced its 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. The business had revenue of $3.76 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.73 billion. Sempra had a return on equity of 8.06% and a net margin of 22.63%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 7.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $1.13 EPS. Equities research analysts forecast that Sempra will post 4.76 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Sempra Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 15th. Investors of record on Thursday, March 20th will be issued a dividend of $0.645 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, March 20th. This is a boost from Sempra’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.62. This represents a $2.58 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.85%. Sempra’s dividend payout ratio is currently 58.37%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Sempra news, EVP Justin Christopher Bird sold 4,817 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, April 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $71.23, for a total transaction of $343,114.91. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 19,778 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,408,786.94. This represents a 19.59 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO Jeffrey W. Martin sold 49,737 shares of the business’s 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 completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 2 shares in the company, valued at $165.88. The trade was a 100.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders have purchased 9,319 shares of company stock worth $651,676 and have sold 57,309 shares worth $4,694,019. 0.24% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Sempra

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of SRE. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of Sempra during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $1,535,000,000. Wellington Management Group LLP increased its position 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 valued at $3,369,076,000 after purchasing an additional 4,082,261 shares during the period. Invesco Ltd. increased its position in Sempra by 70.6% during the 4th 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 during the period. Janus Henderson Group PLC raised its holdings in Sempra by 71.3% in the 4th quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 4,651,923 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $408,069,000 after purchasing an additional 1,936,865 shares in the last quarter. Finally, FMR LLC lifted its position in shares of 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. 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.