Sempra (NYSE:SRE) Receives Average Recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from Brokerages

Sempra (NYSE:SRE) has been given a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” by the ten analysts that are currently covering the company, MarketBeat.com reports. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the company. The average 12 month target price among analysts that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $83.36.

SRE has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Barclays increased their target price on shares of Sempra from $81.00 to $87.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 13th. LADENBURG THALM/SH SH dropped their price objective on Sempra from $81.50 to $79.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, May 29th. Evercore ISI raised their price target on Sempra from $83.00 to $84.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, August 7th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on Sempra from $79.00 to $84.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, May 8th. Finally, Morgan Stanley raised their target price on shares of Sempra from $77.00 to $80.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday.

Sempra Price Performance

Sempra stock opened at $81.40 on Monday. The firm has a market capitalization of $51.29 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.05, a PEG ratio of 2.78 and a beta of 0.74. Sempra has a one year low of $63.75 and a one year high of $83.68. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.84, a current ratio of 0.46 and a quick ratio of 0.41. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $77.67 and a 200-day moving average price of $74.28.

Sempra (NYSE:SRE) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, August 6th. The utilities provider reported $0.89 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.92 by ($0.03). Sempra had a return on equity of 8.58% and a net margin of 22.31%. The company had revenue of $3.01 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.46 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $0.94 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 9.7% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Sempra will post 4.79 EPS for the current year.

Insider Transactions at Sempra

In related news, CAO Peter R. Wall sold 6,100 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, June 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $75.07, for a total transaction of $457,927.00. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 14,751 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,107,357.57. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Company insiders own 0.24% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Sempra

A number of large investors have recently bought and sold shares of SRE. Wellington Management Group LLP grew its holdings in shares of Sempra by 12.1% in the fourth 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 during the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new stake in Sempra in the 4th quarter worth $958,253,000. Clearbridge Investments LLC increased its position in shares of Sempra by 1.9% in the first quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC now owns 12,578,779 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $903,534,000 after acquiring an additional 233,819 shares during the period. Franklin Resources Inc. raised its stake in shares of Sempra by 7.7% during the fourth quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 7,077,642 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $528,912,000 after acquiring an additional 507,622 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Sempra by 2.6% during the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 3,405,214 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $254,472,000 after purchasing an additional 86,577 shares during the period. 89.65% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.