Sempra (NYSE:SRE) Receives Consensus Rating of "Moderate Buy" from Brokerages

Shares of Sempra (NYSE:SRE - Get Free Report) have received a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" from the twelve brokerages that are covering the firm, Marketbeat Ratings reports. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and eight have issued a buy recommendation on the company. The average 1-year price objective among brokers that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $81.50.

Several equities analysts have recently commented on SRE shares. Jefferies Financial Group restated a "hold" rating and issued a $77.00 target price (down from $96.00) on shares of Sempra in a research report on Monday, March 3rd. Barclays downgraded Sempra from an "overweight" rating to an "equal weight" rating and lowered their target price for the stock from $95.00 to $72.00 in a research note on Thursday, February 27th. BMO Capital Markets reduced their price target on shares of Sempra from $92.00 to $78.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, March 4th. Guggenheim lowered their price objective on shares of Sempra from $95.00 to $87.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, February 26th. Finally, Mizuho decreased their target price on shares of Sempra from $92.00 to $76.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, February 26th.

Sempra Stock Down 1.6 %

Sempra stock opened at $67.84 on Friday. The company's 50-day moving average price is $79.92 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $84.05. The company has a quick ratio of 0.47, a current ratio of 0.52 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.89. The stock has a market cap of $44.20 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.94, a P/E/G ratio of 2.19 and a beta of 0.76. Sempra has a twelve month low of $64.89 and a twelve month high of $95.77.

Remove Ads

Sempra (NYSE:SRE - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, February 25th. The utilities provider reported $1.50 earnings per share 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 company had revenue of $3.76 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.73 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $1.13 earnings per share. The firm's quarterly revenue was up 7.6% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts expect that Sempra will post 4.76 EPS for the current year.

Sempra Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 15th. Investors of record on Thursday, March 20th will be paid a dividend of $0.645 per share. This represents a $2.58 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.80%. This is a positive change from Sempra's previous quarterly dividend of $0.62. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, March 20th. Sempra's payout ratio is presently 58.37%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Sempra

In other Sempra news, CEO Jeffrey W. Martin sold 49,737 shares of Sempra stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, January 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $82.94, for a total transaction of $4,125,186.78. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 2 shares of the company's stock, valued at $165.88. The trade was a 100.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, SVP Alexander Lisa Larroque sold 2,755 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $81.93, for a total value of $225,717.15. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 13,905 shares of the company's stock, valued at $1,139,236.65. The trade was a 16.54 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders purchased 6,719 shares of company stock valued at $467,180 in the last quarter. 0.27% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in SRE. Centaurus Financial Inc. boosted its stake in Sempra by 51.8% during the fourth quarter. Centaurus Financial Inc. now owns 14,456 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $1,268,000 after buying an additional 4,936 shares during the last quarter. Mattson Financial Services LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Sempra during the 4th quarter worth approximately $30,000. Siemens Fonds Invest GmbH boosted its position in shares of Sempra by 26.5% during the 4th quarter. Siemens Fonds Invest GmbH now owns 8,670 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $761,000 after acquiring an additional 1,815 shares during the last quarter. Park Square Financial Group LLC purchased a new position in shares of Sempra in the fourth quarter valued at $41,000. Finally, Universal Beteiligungs und Servicegesellschaft mbH bought a new stake in Sempra in the fourth quarter worth $30,462,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors 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.

This instant news alert was generated by narrative science technology and financial data from MarketBeat in order to provide readers with the fastest and most accurate reporting. This story was reviewed by MarketBeat's editorial team prior to publication. Please send any questions or comments about this story to contact@marketbeat.com.