Barclays Cuts Sempra (NYSE:SRE) Price Target to $95.00

Sempra (NYSE:SRE) had its price objective decreased by Barclays from $99.00 to $95.00 in a report published on Monday morning,Benzinga reports. Barclays currently has an overweight rating on the utilities provider’s stock.

A number of other analysts have also weighed in on the stock. Morgan Stanley upgraded shares of Sempra from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and increased their price objective for the stock from $85.00 to $98.00 in a research note on Friday, December 13th. BMO Capital Markets increased their price target on Sempra from $93.00 to $96.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, October 21st. Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price on Sempra from $87.00 to $96.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 7th. Jefferies Financial Group began coverage on Sempra in a research report on Thursday, October 24th. They set a “buy” rating and a $98.00 price target for the company. Finally, Evercore ISI boosted their price target on Sempra from $84.00 to $88.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, November 7th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating and ten have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $91.20.

Sempra Stock Performance

Shares of Sempra stock opened at $82.09 on Monday. The firm has a market capitalization of $51.99 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.08, a PEG ratio of 2.10 and a beta of 0.78. Sempra has a 52 week low of $66.40 and a 52 week high of $95.77. The company has a quick ratio of 0.47, a current ratio of 0.52 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.89. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $87.28 and a 200 day moving average price of $84.28.

Sempra (NYSE:SRE) last announced its quarterly earnings data 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). The company had revenue of $2.78 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.54 billion. Sempra had a net margin of 22.63% and a return on equity of 8.06%. Sempra’s quarterly revenue was down 16.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm earned $1.08 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts expect that Sempra will post 4.77 EPS for the current year.

Sempra Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, January 15th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, December 5th were paid a dividend of $0.62 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, December 5th. This represents a $2.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.02%. Sempra’s dividend payout ratio is currently 54.63%.

Insider Activity at Sempra

In other news, VP Trevor I. Mihalik sold 23,713 shares of Sempra stock in a transaction on Wednesday, November 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $93.09, for a total transaction of $2,207,443.17. Following the transaction, the vice president now owns 11,190 shares in the company, valued at $1,041,677.10. The trade was a 67.94 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. 0.24% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Sempra

Several hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in SRE. AQR Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in Sempra by 173.6% in the second quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 209,735 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $15,952,000 after acquiring an additional 133,085 shares during the last quarter. Creative Planning lifted its stake in shares of Sempra by 16.8% in the 2nd quarter. Creative Planning now owns 78,726 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $5,988,000 after purchasing an additional 11,303 shares during the last quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. grew its holdings in shares of Sempra by 5.6% during the 2nd quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. now owns 27,684 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $2,106,000 after purchasing an additional 1,463 shares during the period. NewEdge Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of Sempra by 3.6% during the 2nd quarter. NewEdge Advisors LLC now owns 18,146 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,380,000 after purchasing an additional 624 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Kimelman & Baird LLC purchased a new stake in Sempra in the 2nd quarter valued at about $114,000. Hedge funds and other 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.