Sempra (NYSE:SRE) Upgraded by Morgan Stanley to “Overweight” Rating

Sempra (NYSE:SRE) was upgraded by investment analysts at Morgan Stanley from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating in a research note issued to investors on Friday,Benzinga reports. The firm presently has a $98.00 price target on the utilities provider’s stock, up from their prior price target of $85.00. Morgan Stanley’s price objective suggests a potential upside of 11.45% from the stock’s previous close.

SRE has been the subject of a number of other reports. Barclays upped their price target on shares of Sempra from $89.00 to $99.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, December 2nd. Bank of America assumed coverage on Sempra in a research report on Thursday, September 12th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $94.00 target price for the company. Evercore ISI lifted their price target on Sempra from $84.00 to $88.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 7th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on Sempra from $87.00 to $96.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 7th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group started coverage on Sempra in a research note on Thursday, October 24th. They set a “buy” rating and a $98.00 target price for the company. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Sempra currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $91.60.

Sempra Stock Up 0.6 %

Shares of Sempra stock opened at $87.93 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.89, a current ratio of 0.52 and a quick ratio of 0.47. Sempra has a 1-year low of $66.40 and a 1-year high of $95.77. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $87.95 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $82.06. The company has a market capitalization of $55.69 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.37, a PEG ratio of 2.40 and a beta of 0.77.

Sempra (NYSE:SRE) last issued 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 the consensus estimate of $3.54 billion. Sempra had a net margin of 22.63% and a return on equity of 8.06%. Sempra’s revenue for the quarter was down 16.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $1.08 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts forecast that Sempra will post 4.76 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity at Sempra

In related news, VP Trevor I. Mihalik sold 23,713 shares of the company’s 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 directly owns 11,190 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,041,677.10. The trade was a 67.94 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. 0.24% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Sempra

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the business. FMR LLC boosted its position in Sempra by 9.1% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 18,978,605 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,587,181,000 after purchasing an additional 1,582,653 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp raised its stake in shares of Sempra by 4.9% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 32,940,620 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $2,774,974,000 after purchasing an additional 1,539,026 shares in the last quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Sempra by 6.9% during the 2nd quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC now owns 13,452,912 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,023,228,000 after buying an additional 874,133 shares during the last quarter. National Bank of Canada FI grew its stake in shares of Sempra by 201.2% in the 3rd quarter. National Bank of Canada FI now owns 620,394 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $51,882,000 after buying an additional 414,406 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Unigestion Holding SA acquired a new position in Sempra in the third quarter worth approximately $33,023,000. 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.