Sempra (NYSE:SRE) Given New $99.00 Price Target at Barclays

Sempra (NYSE:SRE) had its target price raised by analysts at Barclays from $89.00 to $99.00 in a note issued to investors on Monday,Benzinga reports. The firm presently has an “overweight” rating on the utilities provider’s stock. Barclays‘s price objective would indicate a potential upside of 7.05% from the company’s previous close.

Several other brokerages also recently weighed in on SRE. 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 note on Wednesday, September 25th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on shares of Sempra from $87.00 to $96.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, November 7th. Jefferies Financial Group assumed coverage on Sempra in a research note on Thursday, October 24th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $98.00 price objective for the company. Bank of America assumed coverage on Sempra in a report on Thursday, September 12th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $94.00 target price on the stock. Finally, BMO Capital Markets lifted their price target on Sempra from $93.00 to $96.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, October 21st. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has issued a hold rating and ten have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Sempra presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $89.91.

Sempra Stock Down 1.3 %

Shares of SRE traded down $1.19 during midday trading on Monday, hitting $92.48. The company had a trading volume of 99,479 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,898,818. Sempra has a 1 year low of $66.40 and a 1 year high of $95.77. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $86.75 and its 200-day simple moving average is $81.33. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.89, a quick ratio of 0.47 and a current ratio of 0.52. The firm has a market capitalization of $58.58 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.37, a P/E/G ratio of 2.57 and a beta of 0.75.

Sempra (NYSE:SRE) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, November 6th. The utilities provider reported $0.89 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.05 by ($0.16). Sempra had a return on equity of 8.06% and a net margin of 22.63%. The company had revenue of $2.78 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.54 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $1.08 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 16.7% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Sempra will post 4.77 EPS for the current year.

Insider Transactions at Sempra

In other news, VP Trevor I. Mihalik sold 23,713 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, November 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $93.09, for a total transaction of $2,207,443.17. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now directly owns 11,190 shares in the company, valued at $1,041,677.10. This represents a 67.94 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Insiders own 0.24% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. FMR LLC raised its position in shares of Sempra by 9.1% in the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 18,978,605 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,587,181,000 after purchasing an additional 1,582,653 shares in the last quarter. 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 acquiring an additional 1,539,026 shares in the last quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC boosted its stake in Sempra by 6.9% during the 2nd quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC now owns 13,452,912 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,023,228,000 after acquiring an additional 874,133 shares during the last quarter. National Bank of Canada FI boosted its stake in Sempra by 201.2% during the 3rd quarter. National Bank of Canada FI now owns 620,394 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $51,882,000 after acquiring an additional 414,406 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Unigestion Holding SA acquired a new position in Sempra during the 3rd quarter worth $33,023,000. 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.