Analysts Set Sempra (NYSE:SRE) PT at $82.14

Shares of Sempra (NYSE:SRE) have been assigned an average recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the ten research firms that are presently covering the stock, MarketBeat Ratings reports. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a hold recommendation and nine have issued a buy recommendation on the company. The average 12 month price target among analysts that have covered the stock in the last year is $82.14.

Several research firms recently commented on SRE. BMO Capital Markets upgraded shares of Sempra from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and upped their price target for the company from $76.00 to $84.00 in a research note on Thursday, January 11th. Royal Bank of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and set a $82.00 price objective on shares of Sempra in a research note on Wednesday, March 6th. Mizuho cut their target price on Sempra from $83.00 to $79.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, January 25th. StockNews.com cut Sempra from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 20th. Finally, LADENBURG THALM/SH SH initiated coverage on shares of Sempra in a research report on Wednesday, January 3rd. They set a “buy” rating and a $81.50 price objective for the company.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Sempra news, insider Diana L. Day sold 3,937 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $71.21, for a total value of $280,353.77. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 18,145 shares in the company, valued at $1,292,105.45. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. In other Sempra news, insider Diana L. Day sold 3,937 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $71.21, for a total value of $280,353.77. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 18,145 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,292,105.45. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, VP Trevor I. Mihalik sold 57,571 shares of Sempra stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $70.59, for a total transaction of $4,063,936.89. Following the transaction, the vice president now owns 10,922 shares in the company, valued at approximately $770,983.98. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 122,432 shares of company stock valued at $8,668,035. 0.24% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Sempra

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. CWM LLC increased its position in shares of Sempra by 97.5% during the third quarter. CWM LLC now owns 12,483 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $849,000 after buying an additional 6,163 shares during the period. AE Wealth Management LLC grew its holdings in Sempra by 118.6% during the 3rd quarter. AE Wealth Management LLC now owns 18,796 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,279,000 after acquiring an additional 10,198 shares during the period. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. grew its holdings in Sempra by 119.9% during the 3rd quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. now owns 398 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $27,000 after acquiring an additional 217 shares during the period. IFP Advisors Inc raised its position in shares of Sempra by 123.5% in the 3rd quarter. IFP Advisors Inc now owns 6,498 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $442,000 after acquiring an additional 3,591 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Global Retirement Partners LLC lifted its stake in shares of Sempra by 118.0% in the 3rd quarter. Global Retirement Partners LLC now owns 4,704 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $313,000 after purchasing an additional 2,546 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 89.65% of the company’s stock.

Sempra Stock Down 0.1 %

Shares of SRE opened at $71.99 on Tuesday. The firm has a market cap of $45.51 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.03, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.47 and a beta of 0.71. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.85, a quick ratio of 0.49 and a current ratio of 0.54. Sempra has a 52 week low of $63.75 and a 52 week high of $79.30. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $70.53 and its 200 day simple moving average is $71.66.

Sempra (NYSE:SRE) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, February 27th. The utilities provider reported $1.13 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.11 by $0.02. The company had revenue of $3.49 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.01 billion. Sempra had a return on equity of 9.45% and a net margin of 18.26%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 1.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $1.17 earnings per share. On average, analysts forecast that Sempra will post 4.83 earnings per share for the current year.

Sempra Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, April 15th. Investors of record on Thursday, March 21st were given a dividend of $0.62 per share. This represents a $2.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.44%. This is a boost from Sempra’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.60. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, March 20th. Sempra’s dividend payout ratio is currently 51.77%.

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.