Morgan Stanley Forecasts Strong Price Appreciation for Sempra (NYSE:SRE) Stock

Sempra (NYSE:SRE) had its target price raised by Morgan Stanley from $85.00 to $86.00 in a research report sent to investors on Thursday morning,Benzinga reports. They currently have an overweight rating on the utilities provider’s stock.

A number of other brokerages have also issued reports on SRE. Guggenheim decreased their price target on Sempra from $95.00 to $87.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, February 26th. Jefferies Financial Group reissued a “hold” rating and set a $77.00 price target (down from $96.00) on shares of Sempra in a research note on Monday, March 3rd. Barclays lowered Sempra from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and decreased their target price for the company from $95.00 to $72.00 in a research report on Thursday, February 27th. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their target price on Sempra from $96.00 to $88.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, February 26th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group lowered Sempra from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and decreased their target price for the company from $99.00 to $76.00 in a research report on Wednesday, February 26th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $81.58.

Sempra Price Performance

Shares of SRE stock opened at $69.56 on Thursday. Sempra has a 52-week low of $64.89 and a 52-week high of $95.77. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.89, a quick ratio of 0.47 and a current ratio of 0.52. The firm has a market capitalization of $45.31 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.32, a P/E/G ratio of 2.19 and a beta of 0.76. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $78.36 and a 200 day moving average price of $83.58.

Sempra (NYSE:SRE) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 25th. The utilities provider reported $1.50 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.47 by $0.03. Sempra had a return on equity of 8.06% and a net margin of 22.63%. The firm had revenue of $3.76 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.73 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $1.13 EPS. Sempra’s quarterly revenue was up 7.6% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Sempra will post 4.76 earnings per share for the current 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 given a $0.645 dividend. This represents a $2.58 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.71%. This is a positive change from Sempra’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.62. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, March 20th. Sempra’s payout ratio is presently 58.37%.

Insider Transactions at Sempra

In other news, CEO Jeffrey W. Martin sold 49,737 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, January 30th. The stock was 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. The trade was a 100.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, Director Pablo Ferrero bought 2,600 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 17th. The shares were acquired at an average price of $70.96 per share, for a total transaction of $184,496.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the director now owns 15,649 shares in the company, valued at $1,110,453.04. The trade was a 19.92 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. In the last three months, insiders purchased 9,319 shares of company stock valued at $651,676. Corporate insiders own 0.24% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. grew its stake in Sempra by 633.4% during the 4th quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. now owns 29,917 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $2,624,000 after buying an additional 25,838 shares during the last quarter. Unigestion Holding SA purchased a new position in Sempra during the 3rd quarter worth $33,023,000. JPMorgan Chase & Co. grew its stake in Sempra by 8.8% during the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 3,428,132 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $286,695,000 after buying an additional 278,183 shares during the last quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. grew its stake in Sempra by 1.9% during the 3rd quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 357,107 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $29,865,000 after buying an additional 6,709 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Kovitz Investment Group Partners LLC purchased a new position in Sempra during the 3rd quarter worth $675,000. 89.65% of the stock is currently 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.