Sempra (NYSE:SRE) Coverage Initiated by Analysts at Jefferies Financial Group

Jefferies Financial Group started coverage on shares of Sempra (NYSE:SRE) in a research note issued to investors on Thursday morning, MarketBeat.com reports. The brokerage issued a buy rating and a $98.00 price target on the utilities provider’s stock.

A number of other equities research analysts also recently issued reports on the stock. Barclays increased their target price on shares of Sempra from $87.00 to $89.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 1st. Evercore ISI increased their price objective on Sempra from $83.00 to $84.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, August 7th. BMO Capital Markets boosted their target price on Sempra from $93.00 to $96.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, October 21st. Bank of America assumed coverage on Sempra in a research report on Thursday, September 12th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $94.00 target price on the stock. Finally, Morgan Stanley lifted their price target on Sempra from $80.00 to $85.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday, September 25th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has assigned a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $87.55.

Sempra Stock Performance

Shares of SRE stock opened at $84.38 on Thursday. The company has a market capitalization of $53.17 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.71, a P/E/G ratio of 2.70 and a beta of 0.75. Sempra has a 1-year low of $66.40 and a 1-year high of $86.57. The company has a current ratio of 0.46, a quick ratio of 0.41 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.84. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $82.90 and its 200-day simple moving average is $78.22.

Sempra (NYSE:SRE) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, August 6th. The utilities provider reported $0.89 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.92 by ($0.03). The business 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 company’s revenue was down 9.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $0.94 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Sempra will post 4.79 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Sempra Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, October 15th. Investors of record on Thursday, September 26th were issued a $0.62 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, September 26th. This represents a $2.48 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.94%. Sempra’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 54.99%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Sempra

Several large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Eastern Bank acquired a new stake in Sempra in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $28,000. Family Firm Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Sempra in the second quarter valued at approximately $30,000. Ashton Thomas Private Wealth LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Sempra in the second quarter worth $33,000. Financial Connections Group Inc. bought a new position in Sempra during the second quarter worth $34,000. Finally, SouthState Corp raised its stake in Sempra by 900.0% during the 2nd quarter. SouthState Corp now owns 470 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $36,000 after purchasing an additional 423 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 89.65% of the company’s stock.

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.