Sempra (NYSE:SRE) Price Target Lowered to $76.00 at Mizuho

Sempra (NYSE:SREFree Report) had its target price trimmed by Mizuho from $92.00 to $76.00 in a research note published on Wednesday morning,Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has an outperform rating on the utilities provider’s stock.

A number of other brokerages have also commented on SRE. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price target on Sempra from $96.00 to $88.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday. UBS Group lowered Sempra from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and dropped their price target for the company from $95.00 to $78.00 in a research note on Wednesday. Evercore ISI increased their price target on Sempra from $84.00 to $88.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 7th. The Goldman Sachs Group downgraded Sempra from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and decreased their price objective for the company from $99.00 to $76.00 in a research report on Wednesday. Finally, Barclays decreased their price objective on Sempra from $99.00 to $95.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, January 27th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Sempra has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $86.31.

View Our Latest Research Report on SRE

Sempra Price Performance

Shares of Sempra stock opened at $72.70 on Wednesday. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $83.71 and a 200 day moving average of $84.84. Sempra has a 12 month low of $64.89 and a 12 month high of $95.77. The firm has a market cap of $46.05 billion, a PE ratio of 16.01, a PEG ratio of 2.19 and a beta of 0.78. The company has a current ratio of 0.52, a quick ratio of 0.47 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.89.

Sempra (NYSE:SREGet Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 25th. The utilities provider reported $1.50 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.47 by $0.03. Sempra had a return on equity of 8.06% and a net margin of 22.63%. The company had revenue of $3.76 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.73 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $1.13 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 7.6% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts expect that Sempra will post 4.76 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Sempra Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared 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 3.55%. This is an increase from Sempra’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.62. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, March 20th. Sempra’s dividend payout ratio is presently 56.11%.

Insider Transactions at Sempra

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

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Sempra

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. B. Riley Wealth Advisors Inc. raised its position in Sempra by 33.4% during the 4th quarter. B. Riley Wealth Advisors Inc. now owns 9,798 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $866,000 after purchasing an additional 2,453 shares in the last quarter. Ameriflex Group Inc. bought a new stake in Sempra during the 4th quarter valued at $154,000. Putney Financial Group LLC bought a new stake in Sempra during the 4th quarter valued at $90,000. Mackenzie Financial Corp raised its position in Sempra by 42.6% during the 4th quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp now owns 493,771 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $43,314,000 after purchasing an additional 147,495 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Castlekeep Investment Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Sempra during the 4th quarter valued at $1,647,000. 89.65% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

About Sempra

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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.

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Analyst Recommendations for Sempra (NYSE:SRE)

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