Analysts Set Sempra (NYSE:SRE) PT at $83.36

Sempra (NYSE:SRE) has been given a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” by the ten research firms that are covering the firm, MarketBeat Ratings reports. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the company. The average 1-year price target among brokerages that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $83.36.

Several research firms recently issued reports on SRE. Barclays raised their price target on Sempra from $81.00 to $87.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 13th. Evercore ISI raised their target price on shares of Sempra from $83.00 to $84.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, August 7th. LADENBURG THALM/SH SH decreased their target price on shares of Sempra from $81.50 to $79.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, May 29th. Morgan Stanley increased their price target on shares of Sempra from $77.00 to $80.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, August 23rd. Finally, Mizuho raised their price target on shares of Sempra from $79.00 to $86.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, May 17th.

Insider Buying and Selling at Sempra

In other news, CAO Peter R. Wall sold 6,100 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, June 18th. The shares were 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 directly owns 14,751 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,107,357.57. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Insiders own 0.24% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in Sempra in the fourth quarter worth $958,253,000. Wellington Management Group LLP increased its stake in shares of Sempra by 12.1% in the 4th quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 27,123,899 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $2,026,969,000 after acquiring an additional 2,917,668 shares in the last quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB lifted its position in Sempra by 5,279.4% during the 1st quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 1,583,816 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $113,591,000 after acquiring an additional 1,554,374 shares during the period. M&G Plc bought a new stake in Sempra during the first quarter worth about $64,994,000. Finally, Clearbridge Investments LLC grew its holdings in Sempra by 6.9% in the second quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC now owns 13,452,912 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,023,228,000 after purchasing an additional 874,133 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 89.65% of the company’s stock.

Sempra Trading Up 0.7 %

Shares of SRE opened at $82.18 on Monday. 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 fifty-two week low of $63.75 and a fifty-two week high of $83.68. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $78.33 and a 200-day moving average price of $74.70. The firm has a market cap of $52.03 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.20, a PEG ratio of 2.86 and a beta of 0.74.

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 the consensus estimate of $0.92 by ($0.03). Sempra had a return on equity of 8.58% and a net margin of 22.31%. The business had revenue of $3.01 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.46 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.94 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 9.7% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Sempra will post 4.79 earnings per share for the current year.

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.