Sempra (NYSE:SRE) Price Target Cut to $85.00 by Analysts at Morgan Stanley

Sempra (NYSE:SRE) had its price objective cut by Morgan Stanley from $100.00 to $85.00 in a research note published on Wednesday,Benzinga reports. They currently have an overweight rating on the utilities provider’s stock.

Several other equities research analysts have also recently commented on the stock. 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 report on Wednesday. Barclays cut their price target on shares of Sempra from $99.00 to $95.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, January 27th. Evercore ISI boosted their price target on shares of Sempra from $84.00 to $88.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 7th. Wells Fargo & Company cut their price target on shares of Sempra from $96.00 to $88.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday. Finally, UBS Group cut shares of Sempra from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and cut their price target for the stock from $95.00 to $78.00 in a research report on Wednesday. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $86.31.

Sempra Trading Up 2.9 %

SRE opened at $72.70 on Wednesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $46.05 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.01, a P/E/G ratio of 2.19 and a beta of 0.78. Sempra has a 12 month low of $64.89 and a 12 month high of $95.77. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $83.71 and its 200 day simple moving average is $84.84. The company has a current ratio of 0.52, a quick ratio of 0.47 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.89.

Sempra (NYSE:SRE) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 25th. The utilities provider reported $1.50 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.47 by $0.03. The business had revenue of $3.76 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.73 billion. Sempra had a net margin of 22.63% and a return on equity of 8.06%. The firm’s revenue was up 7.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.13 EPS. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Sempra will post 4.76 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Sempra Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 15th. Investors of record on Thursday, March 20th will be paid a $0.645 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, March 20th. This represents a $2.58 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.55%. This is a positive change from Sempra’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.62. Sempra’s dividend payout ratio is 56.11%.

Insider Activity at Sempra

In related news, SVP Alexander Lisa Larroque sold 2,755 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $81.93, for a total value of $225,717.15. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 13,905 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,139,236.65. This represents a 16.54 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CEO Jeffrey W. Martin sold 49,737 shares of the company’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 approximately $165.88. This trade represents a 100.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.24% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of Sempra during the 4th quarter worth approximately $1,535,000,000. Wellington Management Group LLP grew its position in shares of Sempra by 11.9% during 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 in the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. grew its position in shares of Sempra by 70.6% during the 4th quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 6,666,240 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $584,763,000 after purchasing an additional 2,758,037 shares in the last quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC grew its position in shares of Sempra by 71.3% during 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 grew its position in shares of Sempra by 9.1% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 18,978,605 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,587,181,000 after purchasing an additional 1,582,653 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.