Sempra (NYSE:SRE) Price Target Lowered to $85.00 at Wells Fargo & Company

Sempra (NYSE:SRE) had its price objective cut by stock analysts at Wells Fargo & Company from $88.00 to $85.00 in a report released on Wednesday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage presently has an “overweight” rating on the utilities provider’s stock. Wells Fargo & Company‘s price target indicates a potential upside of 22.66% from the company’s previous close.

SRE has been the topic of a number of other reports. 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. Argus cut shares of Sempra from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 18th. Barclays lowered shares of Sempra from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and decreased their price objective for the company from $95.00 to $72.00 in a research note on Thursday, February 27th. Mizuho cut their target price on Sempra from $92.00 to $76.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, February 26th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets reduced their target price on Sempra from $92.00 to $78.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, March 4th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Sempra currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $81.33.

Sempra Stock Down 1.4 %

Shares of NYSE:SRE opened at $69.30 on Wednesday. The firm has a market cap of $45.15 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.26, a PEG ratio of 2.19 and a beta of 0.76. Sempra has a 52-week low of $64.89 and a 52-week high of $95.77. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $78.05 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $83.40. 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 posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 25th. The utilities provider reported $1.50 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.47 by $0.03. Sempra had a net margin of 22.63% and a return on equity of 8.06%. The business had revenue of $3.76 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.73 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $1.13 EPS. Sempra’s revenue was up 7.6% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts forecast that Sempra will post 4.76 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Sempra

In related news, CEO Jeffrey W. Martin sold 49,737 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, January 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $82.94, for a total value of $4,125,186.78. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2 shares in the company, valued at approximately $165.88. The trade was a 100.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, 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 transaction of $225,717.15. Following the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 13,905 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,139,236.65. This trade represents a 16.54 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have bought a total of 9,319 shares of company stock worth $651,676 over the last ninety days. 0.24% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of SRE. Crews Bank & Trust bought a new stake in shares of Sempra during the 4th quarter valued at $26,000. Prudent Man Investment Management Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Sempra during the fourth quarter valued at about $26,000. Synergy Investment Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Sempra in the fourth quarter worth about $29,000. TCTC Holdings LLC boosted its position in shares of Sempra by 265.2% in the fourth quarter. TCTC Holdings LLC now owns 336 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $29,000 after acquiring an additional 244 shares during the period. Finally, Meeder Asset Management Inc. bought a new position in shares of Sempra in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $29,000. 89.65% of the stock is currently 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.