Brokerages Set Sempra (NYSE:SRE) PT at $85.00

Shares of Sempra (NYSE:SRE) have received a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the eleven research firms that are presently covering the firm, Marketbeat.com reports. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the company. The average 12 month target price among brokerages that have covered the stock in the last year is $85.00.

Several equities research analysts recently weighed in on SRE shares. Bank of America began coverage on Sempra in a report on Thursday, September 12th. They set a “buy” rating and a $94.00 price objective on the stock. LADENBURG THALM/SH SH lowered 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. Morgan Stanley raised their price objective on shares of Sempra from $77.00 to $80.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, August 23rd. BMO Capital Markets boosted their target price on shares of Sempra from $90.00 to $93.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, September 12th. Finally, Evercore ISI raised their price target on shares of Sempra from $83.00 to $84.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 7th.

Sempra Trading Up 0.8 %

Shares of SRE opened at $83.18 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.84, a quick ratio of 0.41 and a current ratio of 0.46. Sempra has a 52-week low of $63.75 and a 52-week high of $84.29. The firm has a market cap of $52.42 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.44, a PEG ratio of 2.65 and a beta of 0.75. The business’s fifty day moving average is $80.40 and its 200-day moving average is $75.96.

Sempra (NYSE:SRE) last posted its quarterly 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 company had revenue of $3.01 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.46 billion. Sempra had a net margin of 22.31% and a return on equity of 8.58%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 9.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $0.94 earnings per share. Equities analysts anticipate that Sempra will post 4.79 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Sempra Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, October 15th. Investors of record on Thursday, September 26th will be issued a $0.62 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, September 26th. This represents a $2.48 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.98%. Sempra’s payout ratio is 54.99%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in SRE. Brown Advisory Inc. boosted its stake in Sempra by 11.7% during the fourth quarter. Brown Advisory Inc. now owns 5,638 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $421,000 after acquiring an additional 589 shares in the last quarter. D.A. Davidson & CO. boosted its position in shares of Sempra by 14.4% during the 4th quarter. D.A. Davidson & CO. now owns 41,202 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $3,079,000 after purchasing an additional 5,197 shares in the last quarter. CreativeOne Wealth LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Sempra in the 4th quarter valued at about $288,000. Dai ichi Life Insurance Company Ltd increased its position in Sempra by 46.9% in the 4th quarter. Dai ichi Life Insurance Company Ltd now owns 46,954 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $3,509,000 after buying an additional 15,000 shares in the last quarter. Finally, InterOcean Capital Group LLC raised its stake in Sempra by 9.4% during the 4th quarter. InterOcean Capital Group LLC now owns 5,580 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $417,000 after buying an additional 480 shares during the period. 89.65% of the stock is owned by 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.