Brokerages Set Sempra (NYSE:SRE) PT at $81.50

Sempra (NYSE:SRE) has been assigned a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the thirteen brokerages that are presently covering the firm, MarketBeat Ratings reports. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and eight have given a buy recommendation to the company. The average 12 month target price among analysts that have covered the stock in the last year is $81.50.

A number of equities research analysts have weighed in on SRE shares. UBS Group downgraded 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 research note on Wednesday, February 26th. Mizuho decreased their target price on shares of Sempra from $92.00 to $76.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, February 26th. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their target price on shares of Sempra from $96.00 to $88.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, February 26th. Morgan Stanley cut their price target on shares of Sempra from $100.00 to $85.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, February 26th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group reaffirmed a “hold” rating and set a $77.00 price objective (down from $96.00) on shares of Sempra in a report on Monday, March 3rd.

Insider Activity

In other Sempra news, CEO Jeffrey W. Martin sold 49,737 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, January 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $82.94, for a total transaction of $4,125,186.78. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 2 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $165.88. This represents a 100.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director James C. Yardley bought 5,019 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 12th. The shares were purchased at an average price of $69.74 per share, with a total value of $350,025.06. Following the transaction, the director now owns 5,019 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $350,025.06. The trade was a ∞ increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders acquired 9,319 shares of company stock worth $651,676. 0.24% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Sempra

A number of institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Apollon Wealth Management LLC lifted its stake in Sempra by 6.6% in the third quarter. Apollon Wealth Management LLC now owns 10,883 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $910,000 after buying an additional 677 shares during the period. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. raised its position in shares of Sempra by 2.1% in the 3rd quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. now owns 1,445,967 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $120,926,000 after acquiring an additional 29,536 shares during the period. Prime Capital Investment Advisors LLC boosted its stake in Sempra by 23.4% during the 3rd quarter. Prime Capital Investment Advisors LLC now owns 14,452 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,209,000 after acquiring an additional 2,745 shares during the last quarter. Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. grew its holdings in Sempra by 1.3% during the third quarter. Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. now owns 37,172 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $3,109,000 after purchasing an additional 466 shares during the period. Finally, Cable Hill Partners LLC grew its holdings in Sempra by 15.3% during the third quarter. Cable Hill Partners LLC now owns 3,887 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $327,000 after purchasing an additional 515 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 89.65% of the company’s stock.

Sempra Stock Down 0.4 %

NYSE SRE opened at $70.74 on Friday. Sempra has a twelve month low of $64.89 and a twelve month high of $95.77. The stock has a market cap of $46.09 billion, a PE ratio of 15.58, a PEG ratio of 2.19 and a beta of 0.76. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $79.04 and a 200 day simple moving average of $83.84. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.89, a quick ratio of 0.47 and a current ratio of 0.52.

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

Sempra Increases Dividend

The firm 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. This is an increase from Sempra’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.62. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, March 20th. This represents a $2.58 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.65%. Sempra’s payout ratio is presently 58.37%.

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.