Sempra (NYSE:SRE) Receives $89.91 Average Price Target from Analysts

Shares of Sempra (NYSE:SRE) have been given a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” by the eleven research firms that are covering the firm, Marketbeat.com reports. One research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have issued a buy rating on the company. The average 12 month price objective among brokers that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $89.91.

Several analysts have issued reports on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on shares of Sempra from $87.00 to $96.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 7th. Barclays upped their price target on shares of Sempra from $89.00 to $99.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, December 2nd. Jefferies Financial Group began coverage on shares of Sempra in a research note on Thursday, October 24th. They set a “buy” rating and a $98.00 price objective for the company. Evercore ISI upped their price objective on shares of Sempra from $84.00 to $88.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 7th. Finally, Bank of America began coverage on shares of Sempra in a research note on Thursday, September 12th. They set a “buy” rating and a $94.00 price objective for the company.

Insider Buying and Selling at Sempra

In other Sempra news, VP Trevor I. Mihalik sold 23,713 shares of Sempra stock in a transaction on Wednesday, November 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $93.09, for a total value of $2,207,443.17. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 11,190 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,041,677.10. This trade represents a 67.94 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. 0.27% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Sempra

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in SRE. FMR LLC boosted its stake in shares of Sempra by 9.1% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 18,978,605 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,587,181,000 after purchasing an additional 1,582,653 shares during the period. State Street Corp boosted its stake in shares of Sempra by 4.9% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 32,940,620 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $2,774,974,000 after purchasing an additional 1,539,026 shares during the period. Clearbridge Investments LLC boosted its stake in shares of Sempra by 6.9% during the 2nd 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. National Bank of Canada FI boosted its stake in shares of Sempra by 201.2% during the 3rd quarter. National Bank of Canada FI now owns 620,394 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $51,882,000 after purchasing an additional 414,406 shares during the period. Finally, Unigestion Holding SA purchased a new position in shares of Sempra during the 3rd quarter worth about $33,023,000. 89.65% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Sempra Trading Down 0.3 %

Sempra stock opened at $88.55 on Wednesday. Sempra has a fifty-two week low of $66.40 and a fifty-two week high of $95.77. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $87.67 and its 200-day moving average price is $81.89. The stock has a market cap of $56.09 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.50, a PEG ratio of 2.46 and a beta of 0.77. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.89, a quick ratio of 0.47 and a current ratio of 0.52.

Sempra (NYSE:SRE) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, November 6th. The utilities provider reported $0.89 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.05 by ($0.16). Sempra had a return on equity of 8.06% and a net margin of 22.63%. The company had revenue of $2.78 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.54 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $1.08 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was down 16.7% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts forecast that Sempra will post 4.76 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Sempra Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, January 15th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, December 5th will be issued a $0.62 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, December 5th. This represents a $2.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.80%. Sempra’s dividend payout ratio is currently 54.63%.

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.