Sempra (NYSE:SRE) Receives Consensus Recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from Analysts

Sempra (NYSE:SRE) has been assigned a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” from the eleven research firms that are currently covering the stock, MarketBeat.com reports. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a hold recommendation and ten have issued a buy recommendation on the company. The average 1 year price target among brokers that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $85.00.

Several brokerages have weighed in on SRE. BMO Capital Markets lifted their price objective on 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 shares of Sempra in a research note on Thursday, September 12th. They set a “buy” rating and a $94.00 price objective on the stock. Evercore ISI boosted their target price on shares of Sempra from $83.00 to $84.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 7th. Barclays increased their price target on shares of Sempra from $81.00 to $87.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 13th. Finally, LADENBURG THALM/SH SH lowered their price objective on shares of Sempra from $81.50 to $79.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, May 29th.

Sempra Trading Down 1.2 %

Shares of Sempra stock opened at $83.02 on Friday. 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 firm has a 50-day moving average of $80.69 and a 200-day moving average of $76.14. Sempra has a 52-week low of $63.75 and a 52-week high of $84.38. The stock has a market cap of $52.31 billion, a PE ratio of 18.41, a PEG ratio of 2.65 and a beta of 0.75.

Sempra (NYSE:SRE) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, August 6th. The utilities provider reported $0.89 earnings per share (EPS) 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 business had revenue of $3.01 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.46 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $0.94 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 9.7% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Sempra will post 4.79 EPS for the current year.

Sempra Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, October 15th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, September 26th will be given a $0.62 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, September 26th. This represents a $2.48 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.99%. Sempra’s dividend payout ratio is presently 54.99%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Sempra

Institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Brown Advisory Inc. lifted its holdings in Sempra by 11.7% during the 4th quarter. Brown Advisory Inc. now owns 5,638 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $421,000 after buying an additional 589 shares during the period. D.A. Davidson & CO. lifted its stake in shares of Sempra by 14.4% in the fourth quarter. D.A. Davidson & CO. now owns 41,202 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $3,079,000 after acquiring an additional 5,197 shares during the period. CreativeOne Wealth LLC bought a new stake in Sempra in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $288,000. Dai ichi Life Insurance Company Ltd increased its position in Sempra by 46.9% during the 4th quarter. Dai ichi Life Insurance Company Ltd now owns 46,954 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $3,509,000 after purchasing an additional 15,000 shares during the period. Finally, InterOcean Capital Group LLC increased its position in Sempra by 9.4% during the 4th quarter. InterOcean Capital Group LLC now owns 5,580 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $417,000 after purchasing an additional 480 shares during the period. 89.65% of the stock is 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.