Sempra (NYSE:SRE) Announces Quarterly Earnings Results

Sempra (NYSE:SRE) released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday. The utilities provider reported $1.34 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.35 by ($0.01), Briefing.com reports. Sempra had a return on equity of 9.45% and a net margin of 18.26%. The company had revenue of $3.64 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.58 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $1.46 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 44.5% on a year-over-year basis. Sempra updated its FY24 guidance to $4.60-4.90 EPS and its FY25 guidance to $4.90-5.25 EPS.

Sempra Trading Up 1.6 %

Shares of SRE traded up $1.19 during midday trading on Wednesday, reaching $75.18. The company had a trading volume of 1,368,779 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,942,967. Sempra has a 1-year low of $63.75 and a 1-year high of $78.70. The stock has a market cap of $47.53 billion, a PE ratio of 15.66, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.52 and a beta of 0.70. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $70.74 and a 200-day simple moving average of $71.86. The company has a quick ratio of 0.49, a current ratio of 0.54 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.85.

Sempra Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, April 15th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, March 21st were paid a $0.62 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, March 20th. This is an increase from Sempra’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.60. This represents a $2.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.30%. Sempra’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 51.77%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms have commented on SRE. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on Sempra from $79.00 to $84.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday. BMO Capital Markets upgraded Sempra from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and upped their price objective for the stock from $76.00 to $84.00 in a research report on Thursday, January 11th. Mizuho decreased their target price on Sempra from $83.00 to $79.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, January 25th. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $82.00 target price on shares of Sempra in a research report on Wednesday, March 6th. Finally, StockNews.com lowered Sempra from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 20th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has assigned a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $82.23.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Sempra news, CEO Jeffrey W. Martin sold 50,703 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $70.92, for a total value of $3,595,856.76. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $141.84. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In related news, CEO Jeffrey W. Martin sold 50,703 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $70.92, for a total transaction of $3,595,856.76. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $141.84. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, VP Trevor I. Mihalik sold 57,571 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $70.59, for a total value of $4,063,936.89. Following the sale, the vice president now directly owns 10,922 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $770,983.98. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 122,432 shares of company stock valued at $8,668,035 in the last three months. 0.27% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.