Wells Fargo & Company Cuts Sempra (NYSE:SRE) Price Target to $88.00

Sempra (NYSE:SRE) had its target price decreased by Wells Fargo & Company from $96.00 to $88.00 in a report issued on Wednesday morning,Benzinga reports. Wells Fargo & Company currently has an overweight rating on the utilities provider’s stock.

A number of other equities analysts have also weighed in on SRE. Evercore ISI upped their target price on Sempra from $84.00 to $88.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 7th. Barclays cut their price objective on Sempra from $99.00 to $95.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Monday, January 27th. Morgan Stanley raised shares of Sempra from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and raised their target price for the company from $85.00 to $98.00 in a research note on Friday, December 13th. The Goldman Sachs Group cut shares of Sempra from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and cut their price target for the stock from $99.00 to $76.00 in a research note on Wednesday. Finally, UBS Group lowered shares of Sempra from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and decreased their price target for the stock from $95.00 to $78.00 in a report on Wednesday. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $84.54.

Sempra Trading Down 0.6 %

SRE opened at $71.50 on Wednesday. The company has a fifty day moving average of $83.13 and a 200-day moving average of $84.70. Sempra has a twelve month low of $64.89 and a twelve month high of $95.77. The company has a quick ratio of 0.47, a current ratio of 0.52 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.89. The stock has a market cap of $45.29 billion, a PE ratio of 15.75, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.19 and a beta of 0.78.

Sempra (NYSE:SRE) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 25th. The utilities provider reported $1.50 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.47 by $0.03. Sempra had a return on equity of 8.06% and a net margin of 22.63%. The business had revenue of $3.76 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.73 billion. During the same period last year, the business earned $1.13 EPS. The business’s revenue was up 7.6% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Sempra will post 4.76 EPS for the current year.

Sempra Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 15th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, March 20th will be given a $0.645 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, March 20th. 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. Sempra’s payout ratio is presently 56.11%.

Insider Activity

In related news, SVP Alexander Lisa Larroque sold 2,755 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $81.93, for a total transaction of $225,717.15. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 13,905 shares in the company, valued at $1,139,236.65. The trade was a 16.54 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, CEO Jeffrey W. Martin sold 49,737 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, January 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $82.94, for a total value of $4,125,186.78. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $165.88. The trade was a 100.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 0.24% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Sempra

Hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in Sempra by 0.8% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 63,018,055 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $5,527,944,000 after acquiring an additional 490,269 shares in the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP lifted its position in shares of 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. State Street Corp boosted its stake in shares of Sempra by 4.9% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 32,940,620 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $2,774,974,000 after purchasing an additional 1,539,026 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC boosted its stake in shares of Sempra by 8.0% during the 4th quarter. FMR LLC now owns 20,489,918 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,797,376,000 after purchasing an additional 1,511,313 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of Sempra during the fourth quarter valued at about $1,535,000,000. 89.65% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.