Sempra (NYSE:SRE) Price Target Raised to $89.00 at Barclays

Sempra (NYSE:SRE) had its target price increased by Barclays from $87.00 to $89.00 in a report published on Tuesday morning, Benzinga reports. They currently have an overweight rating on the utilities provider’s stock.

SRE has been the topic of a number of other research reports. Bank of America assumed coverage on Sempra in a research report on Thursday, September 12th. They issued a buy rating and a $94.00 target price on the stock. Evercore ISI lifted their target price on Sempra from $83.00 to $84.00 and gave the company an outperform rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 7th. Morgan Stanley lifted their target price on Sempra from $80.00 to $85.00 and gave the company an equal weight rating in a research report on Wednesday, September 25th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets lifted their target price on Sempra from $90.00 to $93.00 and gave the company an outperform rating in a research report on Thursday, September 12th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has issued a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and an average target price of $85.58.

Sempra Stock Performance

Shares of Sempra stock opened at $82.53 on Tuesday. Sempra has a one year low of $64.29 and a one year high of $84.47. The company has a market cap of $52.25 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.28, a PEG ratio of 2.64 and a beta of 0.75. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.84, a quick ratio of 0.41 and a current ratio of 0.46. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $81.40 and its 200 day moving average price is $76.66.

Sempra (NYSE:SRE) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, August 6th. The utilities provider reported $0.89 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.92 by ($0.03). Sempra had a return on equity of 8.58% and a net margin of 22.31%. The company had revenue of $3.01 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.46 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $0.94 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was down 9.7% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts predict that Sempra will post 4.79 EPS for the current year.

Sempra Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, October 15th. Investors of record on Thursday, September 26th will be paid a dividend of $0.62 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, September 26th. This represents a $2.48 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.00%. Sempra’s payout ratio is 54.93%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. GSA Capital Partners LLP acquired a new position in shares of Sempra during the 1st quarter worth about $815,000. Magnetar Financial LLC acquired a new position in shares of Sempra during the 1st quarter worth about $2,293,000. Forsta AP Fonden boosted its position in shares of Sempra by 13.7% during the 1st quarter. Forsta AP Fonden now owns 117,200 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $8,418,000 after acquiring an additional 14,100 shares in the last quarter. Perpetual Ltd boosted its position in shares of Sempra by 4.8% during the 1st quarter. Perpetual Ltd now owns 2,891,026 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $207,662,000 after acquiring an additional 133,119 shares in the last quarter. Finally, SG Americas Securities LLC boosted its position in shares of Sempra by 249.9% during the 1st quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 155,854 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $11,195,000 after acquiring an additional 111,314 shares in the last quarter. 89.65% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.