Sempra (NYSE:SRE) Hits New 52-Week High at $84.29

Sempra (NYSE:SRE) hit a new 52-week high during mid-day trading on Monday . The company traded as high as $84.29 and last traded at $84.12, with a volume of 597128 shares traded. The stock had previously closed at $82.97.

Analyst Ratings Changes

SRE has been the subject of several recent research reports. LADENBURG THALM/SH SH lowered their target price on Sempra from $81.50 to $79.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, May 29th. Barclays upped their price objective on Sempra from $81.00 to $87.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 13th. BMO Capital Markets raised their target price on Sempra from $90.00 to $93.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday. Morgan Stanley upped their price target on shares of Sempra from $77.00 to $80.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, August 23rd. Finally, Bank of America initiated coverage on shares of Sempra in a research report on Thursday. They issued a “buy” rating and a $94.00 price objective on the stock. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has issued a hold rating and ten have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $85.00.

Sempra Stock Up 0.8 %

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.84, a quick ratio of 0.41 and a current ratio of 0.46. The company has a market cap of $52.93 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.60, a P/E/G ratio of 2.84 and a beta of 0.75. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $79.69 and a 200 day moving average price of $75.51.

Sempra (NYSE:SRE) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, August 6th. The utilities provider reported $0.89 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.92 by ($0.03). Sempra had a net margin of 22.31% and a return on equity of 8.58%. The business had revenue of $3.01 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.46 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.94 earnings per share. Sempra’s revenue was down 9.7% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts expect that Sempra will post 4.79 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Sempra Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, October 15th. Investors of record on Thursday, September 26th will be issued a $0.62 dividend. This represents a $2.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.97%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, September 26th. Sempra’s payout ratio is 54.93%.

Insider Activity

In other news, CAO Peter R. Wall sold 6,100 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, June 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $75.07, for a total transaction 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 document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. 0.24% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Sempra

Hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of Sempra during the fourth quarter valued at about $958,253,000. Wellington Management Group LLP raised its holdings 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 buying an additional 2,917,668 shares in the last quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB lifted its position in shares of 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 worth $113,591,000 after buying an additional 1,554,374 shares during the period. M&G Plc acquired a new stake in Sempra in the 1st quarter valued at $64,994,000. Finally, Clearbridge Investments LLC grew its position in Sempra by 6.9% in the second quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC now owns 13,452,912 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,023,228,000 after acquiring an additional 874,133 shares during the period. 89.65% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.