Sempra (NYSE:SRE) Hits New 52-Week High – Still a Buy?

Sempra (NYSE:SRE)’s stock price hit a new 52-week high during trading on Monday . The stock traded as high as $95.29 and last traded at $95.29, with a volume of 1431 shares. The stock had previously closed at $94.27.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

SRE has been the subject of several analyst reports. Evercore ISI lifted their price target on shares of Sempra from $84.00 to $88.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 7th. Jefferies Financial Group initiated coverage on shares of Sempra in a research report on Thursday, October 24th. They set a “buy” rating and a $98.00 price target for the company. BMO Capital Markets lifted their price target on shares of Sempra from $93.00 to $96.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, October 21st. Morgan Stanley boosted their price objective on shares of Sempra from $80.00 to $85.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday, September 25th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on shares of Sempra from $87.00 to $96.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, November 7th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has assigned a hold rating and ten have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Sempra has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $89.00.

Sempra Stock Performance

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.89, a current ratio of 0.52 and a quick ratio of 0.47. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $85.66 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $80.73. The stock has a market cap of $59.90 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.76, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.59 and a beta of 0.75.

Sempra (NYSE:SRE) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, November 6th. The utilities provider reported $0.89 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.05 by ($0.16). Sempra had a net margin of 22.63% and a return on equity of 8.06%. The company had revenue of $2.78 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.54 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.08 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was down 16.7% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts forecast that Sempra will post 4.77 EPS for the current year.

Sempra Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, January 15th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, December 5th will be given a $0.62 dividend. This represents a $2.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.62%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, December 5th. Sempra’s dividend payout ratio is presently 54.63%.

Insider Transactions at Sempra

In other news, VP Trevor I. Mihalik sold 23,713 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, November 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $93.09, for a total value of $2,207,443.17. Following the sale, the vice president now owns 11,190 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,041,677.10. The trade was a 67.94 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. 0.27% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Sempra

A number of institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in SRE. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB bought a new stake in Sempra during the third quarter worth $380,000. World Investment Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Sempra during the third quarter worth $6,029,000. Sanctuary Advisors LLC raised its position in Sempra by 14.4% during the third quarter. Sanctuary Advisors LLC now owns 190,714 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $15,949,000 after acquiring an additional 23,970 shares in the last quarter. Virtu Financial LLC bought a new stake in Sempra during the third quarter worth $246,000. Finally, Unigestion Holding SA bought a new stake in Sempra during the third quarter worth $33,023,000. Institutional investors 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.