Sempra (NYSE:SRE) Posts Earnings Results, Beats Estimates By $0.03 EPS

Sempra (NYSE:SRE) issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday. The utilities provider reported $1.50 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.47 by $0.03, Briefing.com reports. The business had revenue of $3.76 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.73 billion. Sempra had a return on equity of 8.06% and a net margin of 22.63%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 7.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $1.13 earnings per share.

Sempra Stock Down 18.9 %

Shares of SRE opened at $70.67 on Wednesday. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $83.96 and its 200-day moving average price is $84.93. 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 market capitalization of $44.76 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.57, a PEG ratio of 2.19 and a beta of 0.78. Sempra has a 52 week low of $64.89 and a 52 week high of $95.77.

Sempra Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 15th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, March 20th will be issued a $0.645 dividend. This represents a $2.58 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.65%. This is a boost from Sempra’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.62. Sempra’s payout ratio is 54.63%.

Insider Activity at Sempra

In other news, CEO Jeffrey W. Martin sold 49,737 shares of Sempra stock in a transaction that occurred 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 completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $165.88. The trade was a 100.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, 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 transaction, the senior vice president now owns 13,905 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,139,236.65. This represents a 16.54 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.24% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

SRE has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. UBS Group cut Sempra from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and decreased their price target for the company from $95.00 to $78.00 in a research note on Wednesday. Evercore ISI increased their price objective on shares of Sempra from $84.00 to $88.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 7th. The Goldman Sachs Group downgraded shares of Sempra from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and dropped their target price for the stock from $99.00 to $76.00 in a research report on Wednesday. Morgan Stanley raised shares of Sempra from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and raised their price target for the stock from $85.00 to $98.00 in a report on Friday, December 13th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on shares of Sempra from $87.00 to $96.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 7th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $88.83.

Sempra Company Profile

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.