Sempra (NYSE:SRE) Price Target Cut to $87.00 by Analysts at Guggenheim

Sempra (NYSE:SRE) had its price objective reduced by Guggenheim from $95.00 to $87.00 in a research note issued to investors on Wednesday,Benzinga reports. Guggenheim currently has a buy rating on the utilities provider’s stock.

SRE has been the subject of several other research reports. Evercore ISI raised their price target on shares of Sempra from $84.00 to $88.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, November 7th. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price target on shares of Sempra from $96.00 to $88.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday. Mizuho lowered their price target on shares of Sempra from $92.00 to $76.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday. The Goldman Sachs Group lowered shares of Sempra from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and lowered their price target for the stock from $99.00 to $76.00 in a report on Wednesday. Finally, Morgan Stanley lowered their price target on shares of Sempra from $100.00 to $85.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Sempra currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $86.31.

Sempra Stock Up 2.9 %

NYSE:SRE opened at $72.70 on Wednesday. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $83.71 and its 200 day simple moving average is $84.84. 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 one year low of $64.89 and a one year high of $95.77. The company has a market cap of $46.05 billion, a PE ratio of 16.01, a P/E/G ratio of 2.19 and a beta of 0.78.

Sempra (NYSE:SRE) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, February 25th. The utilities provider reported $1.50 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.47 by $0.03. Sempra had a net margin of 22.63% and a return on equity of 8.06%. The business had revenue of $3.76 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.73 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $1.13 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 7.6% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts anticipate that Sempra will post 4.76 earnings per share for the current year.

Sempra Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 15th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, March 20th will be paid a dividend of $0.645 per share. This represents a $2.58 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.55%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, March 20th. This is a positive change from Sempra’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.62. Sempra’s payout ratio is 56.11%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Sempra

In other Sempra news, SVP Alexander Lisa Larroque sold 2,755 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $81.93, for a total transaction of $225,717.15. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 13,905 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,139,236.65. The trade was a 16.54 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CEO Jeffrey W. Martin sold 49,737 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, January 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $82.94, for a total transaction of $4,125,186.78. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 2 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $165.88. This trade represents a 100.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.24% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Sempra

Hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. boosted its holdings in Sempra by 633.4% during the 4th quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. now owns 29,917 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $2,624,000 after acquiring an additional 25,838 shares during the last quarter. Unigestion Holding SA purchased a new position in Sempra during the 3rd quarter worth $33,023,000. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its holdings in Sempra by 8.8% during the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 3,428,132 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $286,695,000 after acquiring an additional 278,183 shares during the last quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. boosted its holdings in Sempra by 1.9% during the 3rd quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 357,107 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $29,865,000 after acquiring an additional 6,709 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Kovitz Investment Group Partners LLC purchased a new position in Sempra during the 3rd quarter worth $675,000. 89.65% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.