BMO Capital Markets Trims Sempra (NYSE:SRE) Target Price to $84.00

Sempra (NYSE:SRE - Get Free Report) had its target price lowered by investment analysts at BMO Capital Markets from $86.00 to $84.00 in a report released on Wednesday, Benzinga reports. The firm currently has an "outperform" rating on the utilities provider's stock. BMO Capital Markets' target price would indicate a potential upside of 10.37% from the company's current price.

Several other equities analysts have also recently issued reports on the company. Morgan Stanley reduced their target price on Sempra from $79.00 to $76.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, June 24th. Mizuho increased their target price on Sempra from $79.00 to $86.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Friday, May 17th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on Sempra from $79.00 to $84.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 8th. LADENBURG THALM/SH SH lowered their price target on Sempra from $81.50 to $79.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, May 29th. Finally, Barclays increased their target price on Sempra from $77.00 to $79.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Thursday, March 14th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has issued a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $82.10.

Sempra Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE SRE traded up $0.53 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, reaching $76.11. 1,924,978 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,998,460. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $75.81 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $73.06. Sempra has a 52 week low of $63.75 and a 52 week high of $78.83. The firm has a market capitalization of $47.96 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.86, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.61 and a beta of 0.74. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.87, a current ratio of 0.62 and a quick ratio of 0.57.

Sempra (NYSE:SRE - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, May 7th. The utilities provider reported $1.34 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $1.35 by ($0.01). The company had revenue of $3.64 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $5.58 billion. Sempra had a net margin of 20.99% and a return on equity of 8.95%. The firm's quarterly revenue was down 44.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $1.46 EPS. Analysts predict that Sempra will post 4.8 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity

In other news, CAO Peter R. Wall sold 6,100 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, June 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $75.07, for a total value of $457,927.00. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 14,751 shares of the company's stock, valued at $1,107,357.57. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In related news, Director Richard J. Mark bought 1,925 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 17th. The shares were purchased at an average price of $77.97 per share, for a total transaction of $150,092.25. Following the completion of the purchase, the director now directly owns 5,420 shares of the company's stock, valued at $422,597.40. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CAO Peter R. Wall sold 6,100 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, June 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $75.07, for a total value of $457,927.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 14,751 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,107,357.57. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 0.27% of the company's stock.

Institutional Trading of Sempra

Hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Ameriprise Financial Inc. boosted its position in Sempra by 57.4% during the third quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 662,150 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $45,101,000 after purchasing an additional 241,546 shares in the last quarter. Schroder Investment Management Group boosted its position in Sempra by 96.3% during the third quarter. Schroder Investment Management Group now owns 77,029 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $5,240,000 after purchasing an additional 37,779 shares in the last quarter. Penserra Capital Management LLC boosted its position in Sempra by 72.7% during the third quarter. Penserra Capital Management LLC now owns 3,525 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $239,000 after purchasing an additional 1,484 shares in the last quarter. Harbour Investments Inc. boosted its position in Sempra by 100.8% during the third quarter. Harbour Investments Inc. now owns 5,054 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $344,000 after purchasing an additional 2,537 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Creative Planning boosted its position in Sempra by 147.7% during the third quarter. Creative Planning now owns 116,822 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $7,947,000 after purchasing an additional 69,658 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 89.65% of the company's stock.

About Sempra

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.