Sempra (NYSE:SRE) Lowered to “Neutral” Rating by UBS Group

UBS Group downgraded shares of Sempra (NYSE:SRE) from a buy rating to a neutral rating in a research report sent to investors on Wednesday morning, Marketbeat.com reports. The brokerage currently has $78.00 target price on the utilities provider’s stock, down from their prior target price of $95.00.

A number of other equities research analysts have also recently commented on SRE. Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on shares of Sempra from $87.00 to $96.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 7th. Evercore ISI raised their target price on shares of Sempra from $84.00 to $88.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, November 7th. Morgan Stanley raised shares of Sempra from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and lifted their price objective for the stock from $85.00 to $98.00 in a research note on Friday, December 13th. Barclays dropped their price objective on shares of Sempra from $99.00 to $95.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, January 27th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group lowered shares of Sempra from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and dropped their price objective for the stock from $99.00 to $76.00 in a research note on Wednesday. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Sempra has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $86.31.

Sempra Stock Performance

Shares of SRE stock opened at $72.70 on Wednesday. Sempra has a one year low of $64.89 and a one year high of $95.77. The company’s 50-day moving average is $83.71 and its 200 day moving average is $84.84. The company has a market capitalization of $46.05 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.01, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.19 and a beta of 0.78. 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 results 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. Sempra had a net margin of 22.63% and a return on equity of 8.06%. The firm had revenue of $3.76 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.73 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $1.13 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 7.6% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts expect 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. Stockholders of record on Thursday, March 20th will be issued a dividend of $0.645 per share. This represents a $2.58 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.55%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, March 20th. This is a positive change from Sempra’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.62. Sempra’s payout ratio is currently 56.11%.

Insider Transactions at Sempra

In other Sempra news, SVP Alexander Lisa Larroque sold 2,755 shares of Sempra stock in a transaction dated 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 transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 13,905 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,139,236.65. The trade was a 16.54 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, CEO Jeffrey W. Martin sold 49,737 shares of Sempra stock in a transaction dated Thursday, January 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $82.94, for a total value of $4,125,186.78. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $165.88. This represents a 100.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 0.24% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Sempra

Several institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in SRE. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in Sempra during the fourth quarter worth approximately $1,535,000,000. Wellington Management Group LLP lifted its stake in Sempra by 11.9% during the fourth 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 during the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. lifted its stake in Sempra by 70.6% during the fourth 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 during the last quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC lifted its stake in Sempra by 71.3% in the fourth quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 4,651,923 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $408,069,000 after buying an additional 1,936,865 shares during the last quarter. Finally, FMR LLC lifted its stake in Sempra by 9.1% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 18,978,605 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,587,181,000 after buying an additional 1,582,653 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 89.65% of the company’s stock.

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.