Sempra (NYSE:SRE) Receives Average Recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from Brokerages

Sempra (NYSE:SRE) has been assigned an average recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the thirteen ratings firms that are presently covering the firm, Marketbeat.com reports. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and eight have given a buy recommendation to the company. The average twelve-month price target among brokerages that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $81.58.

Several equities research analysts have commented on SRE shares. The Goldman Sachs Group lowered shares of Sempra from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and dropped their price target for the company from $99.00 to $76.00 in a research note on Wednesday, February 26th. Argus cut Sempra from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday. Jefferies Financial Group reiterated a “hold” rating and set a $77.00 price target (down previously from $96.00) on shares of Sempra in a research report on Monday, March 3rd. UBS Group lowered Sempra from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and lowered their price target for the company from $95.00 to $78.00 in a report on Wednesday, February 26th. Finally, Barclays lowered shares of Sempra from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and decreased their target price for the company from $95.00 to $72.00 in a research report on Thursday, February 27th.

Sempra Trading Down 1.4 %

Shares of NYSE SRE opened at $70.10 on Friday. Sempra has a 12-month low of $64.89 and a 12-month high of $95.77. The company has a market cap of $45.67 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.44, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.19 and a beta of 0.76. The company has a current ratio of 0.52, a quick ratio of 0.47 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.89. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $78.55 and its 200 day simple moving average is $83.66.

Sempra (NYSE:SRE) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 25th. The utilities provider reported $1.50 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.47 by $0.03. Sempra had a net margin of 22.63% and a return on equity of 8.06%. The company had revenue of $3.76 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.73 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $1.13 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.6% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts expect that Sempra will post 4.76 EPS for the current year.

Sempra Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 15th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, March 20th will be issued a $0.645 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, March 20th. This represents a $2.58 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.68%. This is a boost from Sempra’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.62. Sempra’s dividend payout ratio is currently 58.37%.

Insider Transactions at Sempra

In related news, CEO Jeffrey W. Martin sold 49,737 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, January 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $82.94, for a total value of $4,125,186.78. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 2 shares in the company, valued at $165.88. This trade represents a 100.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director Cynthia J. Warner purchased 700 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 6th. The stock was bought at an average cost of $70.65 per share, for a total transaction of $49,455.00. Following the purchase, the director now directly owns 8,759 shares in the company, valued at $618,823.35. This represents a 8.69 % increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Insiders purchased a total of 9,319 shares of company stock valued at $651,676 in the last three months. 0.24% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Sempra

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Sempra by 633.4% in the fourth quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. now owns 29,917 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $2,624,000 after purchasing an additional 25,838 shares in the last quarter. Unigestion Holding SA acquired a new stake in Sempra during the 3rd quarter worth about $33,023,000. JPMorgan Chase & Co. grew its stake in Sempra by 8.8% during the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 3,428,132 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $286,695,000 after acquiring an additional 278,183 shares in the last quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Sempra by 1.9% in the 3rd quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 357,107 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $29,865,000 after purchasing an additional 6,709 shares during the period. Finally, Kovitz Investment Group Partners LLC acquired a new position in shares of Sempra in the 3rd quarter valued at about $675,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 89.65% of the company’s stock.

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.