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

Shares of Sempra (NYSE:SRE) have earned an average rating of “Moderate Buy” from the nine research firms that are presently covering the stock, Marketbeat Ratings reports. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold recommendation and six have assigned a buy recommendation to the company. The average 12 month price objective among analysts that have covered the stock in the last year is $81.05.

SRE has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Royal Bank of Canada decreased their price objective on shares of Sempra from $91.00 to $82.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, September 6th. Guggenheim lowered their price objective on Sempra from $86.00 to $76.00 in a research report on Monday, October 9th. Wells Fargo & Company cut their target price on Sempra from $87.00 to $83.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, August 4th. Barclays cut their price objective on shares of Sempra from $78.00 to $76.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, October 24th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets lowered their target price on shares of Sempra from $84.00 to $80.00 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, August 7th.

Sempra Stock Performance

Shares of Sempra stock opened at $69.49 on Tuesday. Sempra has a 12 month low of $63.75 and a 12 month high of $84.13. The firm has a market capitalization of $43.73 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.59, a P/E/G ratio of 3.13 and a beta of 0.74. The company has a current ratio of 0.57, a quick ratio of 0.53 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.91. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $70.11 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $72.67.

Sempra (NYSE:SRE) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 3rd. The utilities provider reported $0.94 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.86 by $0.08. Sempra had a return on equity of 10.04% and a net margin of 14.90%. The company had revenue of $3.34 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.54 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $0.99 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 6.0% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts forecast that Sempra will post 4.51 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Sempra Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Sunday, October 15th. Shareholders of record on Wednesday, September 27th were given a $0.595 dividend. This represents a $2.38 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.42%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, September 26th. Sempra’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 60.25%.

Institutional Trading of Sempra

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Financial Gravity Asset Management Inc. bought a new stake in Sempra during the 2nd quarter valued at about $645,000. WealthPLAN Partners LLC purchased a new position in shares of Sempra during the first quarter worth approximately $29,000. West Tower Group LLC bought a new stake in shares of Sempra during the second quarter valued at approximately $31,000. Capital Advisors Ltd. LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Sempra by 3,666.7% in the second quarter. Capital Advisors Ltd. LLC now owns 226 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $33,000 after purchasing an additional 220 shares during the period. Finally, Atlas Capital Advisors LLC increased its holdings in Sempra by 842.9% during the 2nd quarter. Atlas Capital Advisors LLC now owns 264 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $40,000 after purchasing an additional 236 shares during the period. 84.83% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

About Sempra

Sempra operates as an energy infrastructure company in the United States and internationally. It operates through four segments: San Diego Gas & Electric Company, Southern California Gas Company, Sempra Texas Utilities, and Sempra Infrastructure. The San Diego Gas & Electric Company segment provides to San Diego and southern Orange counties; and natural gas service to San Diego County.