Sempra (NYSE:SRE) Price Target Raised to $89.00

Sempra (NYSE:SRE) had its price target upped by Barclays from $87.00 to $89.00 in a report published on Tuesday, Benzinga reports. The firm currently has an overweight rating on the utilities provider’s stock.

A number of other research firms have also recently issued reports on SRE. BMO Capital Markets upped their price target on shares of Sempra from $90.00 to $93.00 and gave the company an outperform rating in a report on Thursday, September 12th. Bank of America started coverage on Sempra in a research report on Thursday, September 12th. They set a buy rating and a $94.00 price objective for the company. Evercore ISI boosted their price objective on Sempra from $83.00 to $84.00 and gave the stock an outperform rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 7th. Finally, Morgan Stanley boosted their price objective on Sempra from $80.00 to $85.00 and gave the stock an equal weight rating in a research report on Wednesday, September 25th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has assigned a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Sempra presently has an average rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus target price of $85.27.

Sempra Stock Up 0.1 %

SRE opened at $82.60 on Tuesday. The firm has a market cap of $52.05 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.31, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.64 and a beta of 0.75. 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 business has a 50 day moving average price of $81.48 and a 200 day moving average price of $76.74. Sempra has a twelve month low of $64.29 and a twelve month high of $84.47.

Sempra (NYSE:SRE) last issued its quarterly earnings data 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 return on equity of 8.58% and a net margin of 22.31%. The firm had revenue of $3.01 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.46 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.94 earnings per share. Sempra’s quarterly revenue was down 9.7% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts forecast that Sempra will post 4.79 EPS for the current year.

Sempra Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, October 15th. Investors of record on Thursday, September 26th will be paid a dividend of $0.62 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, September 26th. This represents a $2.48 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.00%. Sempra’s dividend payout ratio is 54.99%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Sempra

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Wellington Management Group LLP increased its stake in Sempra by 12.1% during the fourth quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 27,123,899 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $2,026,969,000 after acquiring an additional 2,917,668 shares during the period. Clearbridge Investments LLC increased its stake in Sempra by 6.9% during 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. Perpetual Ltd increased its stake in Sempra by 4.8% during the first quarter. Perpetual Ltd now owns 2,891,026 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $207,662,000 after acquiring an additional 133,119 shares during the period. Point72 Asset Management L.P. increased its stake in Sempra by 4.6% during the fourth quarter. Point72 Asset Management L.P. now owns 2,629,015 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $196,466,000 after acquiring an additional 116,297 shares during the period. Finally, DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale grew its stake in shares of Sempra by 2.1% in the 2nd quarter. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale now owns 2,404,573 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $182,158,000 after purchasing an additional 48,592 shares during the period. 89.65% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.