Wall Street Zen Downgrades Sempra Energy (NYSE:SRE) to Sell

Sempra Energy (NYSE:SRE) was downgraded by research analysts at Wall Street Zen from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note issued to investors on Saturday.

Other equities research analysts have also recently issued reports about the stock. UBS Group reissued a “neutral” rating and set a $100.00 price target (up from $96.00) on shares of Sempra Energy in a research report on Friday. Morgan Stanley restated an “overweight” rating and issued a $101.00 price objective on shares of Sempra Energy in a report on Friday, February 20th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their target price on Sempra Energy from $112.00 to $113.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Friday, February 27th. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “hold (c+)” rating on shares of Sempra Energy in a report on Wednesday, January 21st. Finally, Barclays set a $95.00 price target on Sempra Energy and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 3rd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seven have issued a Buy rating and four have given a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $100.00.

Sempra Energy Price Performance

NYSE SRE opened at $92.71 on Friday. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $90.28 and its 200-day moving average is $89.27. The company has a quick ratio of 1.57, a current ratio of 1.59 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.75. The company has a market capitalization of $60.57 billion, a PE ratio of 33.59, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.47 and a beta of 0.73. Sempra Energy has a 12-month low of $61.90 and a 12-month high of $97.44.

Sempra Energy (NYSE:SRE) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, February 26th. The utilities provider reported $1.28 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.12 by $0.16. The business had revenue of $3.75 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.82 billion. Sempra Energy had a net margin of 13.27% and a return on equity of 8.22%. The firm’s revenue was down .2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $1.50 earnings per share. Equities research analysts anticipate that Sempra Energy will post 4.76 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Trading of Sempra Energy

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of SRE. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in Sempra Energy by 1.3% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 76,734,070 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $6,774,907,000 after acquiring an additional 1,008,476 shares during the last quarter. Capital International Investors grew its position in shares of Sempra Energy by 9.2% in the third quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 54,071,206 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $4,865,115,000 after purchasing an additional 4,572,312 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp increased its stake in shares of Sempra Energy by 5.2% during the fourth quarter. State Street Corp now owns 36,810,449 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $3,273,460,000 after purchasing an additional 1,824,280 shares during the period. Morgan Stanley increased its stake in shares of Sempra Energy by 17.0% during the fourth quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 22,330,091 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,971,524,000 after purchasing an additional 3,250,783 shares during the period. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in Sempra Energy by 0.8% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 14,298,845 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,256,592,000 after purchasing an additional 116,554 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 89.65% of the company’s stock.

About Sempra Energy

Sempra Energy is a San Diego–based energy infrastructure company that develops, owns and operates businesses delivering electricity and natural gas. Its operations include regulated utility services that provide electric and gas distribution to residential, commercial and industrial customers, as well as non‑regulated infrastructure businesses that develop and manage large-scale energy assets.

The company’s product and service portfolio spans electricity and natural gas delivery, transmission and storage, liquefied natural gas (LNG) facilities, power generation and electric transmission projects.