Sempra (NYSE:SRE) Receives Average Rating of “Moderate Buy” from Analysts

Shares of Sempra (NYSE:SRE) have been assigned an average recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the eleven brokerages that are currently covering the firm, MarketBeat reports. One analyst has rated the stock with a hold recommendation and ten have given a buy recommendation to the company. The average 12-month price objective among analysts that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $85.42.

Several research analysts have commented on the company. BMO Capital Markets lifted their price target on Sempra from $90.00 to $93.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, September 12th. Barclays upped their target price on shares of Sempra from $81.00 to $87.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 13th. Bank of America initiated coverage on shares of Sempra in a research report on Thursday, September 12th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $94.00 price target on the stock. Evercore ISI upped their price objective on shares of Sempra from $83.00 to $84.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 7th. Finally, Morgan Stanley boosted their price target on Sempra from $80.00 to $85.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Wellington Management Group LLP increased its position in shares of Sempra by 12.1% during the 4th quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 27,123,899 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $2,026,969,000 after purchasing an additional 2,917,668 shares in the last quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB increased its holdings in shares of Sempra by 5,279.4% during the first quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 1,583,816 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $113,591,000 after buying an additional 1,554,374 shares in the last quarter. M&G Plc bought a new position in shares of Sempra in the first quarter valued at approximately $64,994,000. Clearbridge Investments LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Sempra by 6.9% in the 2nd quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC now owns 13,452,912 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,023,228,000 after acquiring an additional 874,133 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Zimmer Partners LP grew its position in Sempra by 96.9% during the 1st quarter. Zimmer Partners LP now owns 1,636,202 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $117,528,000 after acquiring an additional 805,084 shares during the last quarter. 89.65% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Sempra Trading Down 1.3 %

NYSE:SRE opened at $81.91 on Friday. The company’s 50 day moving average is $80.80 and its 200-day moving average is $76.19. The company has a quick ratio of 0.41, a current ratio of 0.46 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.84. Sempra has a 12 month low of $63.75 and a 12 month high of $84.38. The firm has a market cap of $51.61 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.16, a P/E/G ratio of 2.67 and a beta of 0.75.

Sempra (NYSE:SRE) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, August 6th. The utilities provider reported $0.89 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.92 by ($0.03). The firm had revenue of $3.01 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.46 billion. Sempra had a return on equity of 8.58% and a net margin of 22.31%. The firm’s revenue was down 9.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.94 EPS. Equities analysts anticipate that Sempra will post 4.79 EPS for the current year.

Sempra Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, October 15th. Investors of record on Thursday, September 26th will be paid a $0.62 dividend. This represents a $2.48 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.03%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, September 26th. Sempra’s dividend payout ratio is 54.99%.

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.