Sempra (NYSE:SRE) Given Consensus Rating of “Moderate Buy” by Analysts

Sempra (NYSE:SRE) has been given a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” by the fourteen ratings firms that are covering the stock, MarketBeat.com reports. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and eight have assigned a buy recommendation to the company. The average 12 month price target among analysts that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $80.54.

A number of analysts recently weighed in on the stock. The Goldman Sachs Group lowered shares of Sempra from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and decreased their target price for the stock from $99.00 to $76.00 in a report on Wednesday, February 26th. Morgan Stanley set a $89.00 price target on shares of Sempra and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 23rd. Argus downgraded shares of Sempra from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 18th. BMO Capital Markets lowered their price target on Sempra from $92.00 to $78.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, March 4th. Finally, UBS Group lowered Sempra from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and reduced their price objective for the company from $95.00 to $78.00 in a research report on Wednesday, February 26th.

Insider Activity

In related news, Director Cynthia J. Warner purchased 700 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 6th. The stock was bought at an average cost of $70.65 per share, with a total value of $49,455.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the director now directly owns 8,759 shares in the company, valued at approximately $618,823.35. This represents a 8.69 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, SVP Alexander Lisa Larroque sold 2,755 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $81.93, for a total value of $225,717.15. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 13,905 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,139,236.65. The trade was a 16.54 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders bought 9,319 shares of company stock valued at $651,676. Insiders own 0.27% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in SRE. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. boosted its stake in Sempra by 633.4% in the 4th quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. now owns 29,917 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $2,624,000 after purchasing an additional 25,838 shares in the last quarter. L & S Advisors Inc lifted its position in Sempra by 52.6% in the 4th quarter. L & S Advisors Inc now owns 41,601 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $3,649,000 after acquiring an additional 14,338 shares in the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised its stake in shares of Sempra by 8.8% in the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 3,428,132 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $286,695,000 after purchasing an additional 278,183 shares during the last quarter. Empower Advisory Group LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Sempra by 2.6% during the 4th quarter. Empower Advisory Group LLC now owns 1,071,091 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $93,956,000 after acquiring an additional 26,821 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Principal Securities Inc. increased its position in Sempra by 11.7% during the fourth quarter. Principal Securities Inc. now owns 9,479 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $831,000 after acquiring an additional 990 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 89.65% of the company’s stock.

Sempra Stock Up 1.1 %

SRE stock opened at $75.92 on Friday. Sempra has a 1-year low of $61.90 and a 1-year high of $95.77. The stock has a market cap of $49.49 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.72, a P/E/G ratio of 2.19 and a beta of 0.63. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $70.72 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $80.67. 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 released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 25th. The utilities provider reported $1.50 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.47 by $0.03. The company had revenue of $3.76 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.73 billion. Sempra had a return on equity of 8.06% and a net margin of 22.63%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $1.13 EPS. Analysts expect that Sempra will post 4.76 EPS for the current year.

Sempra Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, April 15th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, March 20th were given a $0.645 dividend. This is a boost from Sempra’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.62. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, March 20th. This represents a $2.58 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.40%. Sempra’s payout ratio is presently 58.37%.

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.