Wells Fargo & Company Has Lowered Expectations for Sempra (NYSE:SRE) Stock Price

Sempra (NYSE:SRE) had its price target cut by stock analysts at Wells Fargo & Company from $96.00 to $88.00 in a report released on Wednesday,Benzinga reports. The firm currently has an “overweight” rating on the utilities provider’s stock. Wells Fargo & Company‘s price target would suggest a potential upside of 26.99% from the company’s previous close.

A number of other brokerages also recently commented on SRE. UBS Group downgraded Sempra from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and decreased their target price for the company from $95.00 to $78.00 in a report on Wednesday. The Goldman Sachs Group cut 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. Barclays reduced their price target on shares of Sempra from $99.00 to $95.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, January 27th. Morgan Stanley raised shares of Sempra from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and increased their price target for the stock from $85.00 to $98.00 in a research note on Friday, December 13th. Finally, Evercore ISI lifted their price objective on Sempra from $84.00 to $88.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 7th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Sempra has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $88.17.

Sempra Stock Down 1.9 %

SRE opened at $69.30 on Wednesday. The company has a market cap of $43.89 billion, a PE ratio of 15.35, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.19 and a beta of 0.78. Sempra has a 12 month low of $64.89 and a 12 month high of $95.77. The company has a current ratio of 0.52, a quick ratio of 0.47 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.89. The company has a 50 day moving average of $83.96 and a 200 day moving average of $84.93.

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

Insider Activity at Sempra

In related news, CEO Jeffrey W. Martin sold 49,737 shares of Sempra stock in a transaction dated 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 completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2 shares in the company, valued at $165.88. The trade was a 100.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, SVP Alexander Lisa Larroque sold 2,755 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $81.93, for a total value of $225,717.15. Following the sale, 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 position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.24% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Sempra

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of SRE. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Sempra by 0.8% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 63,018,055 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $5,527,944,000 after buying an additional 490,269 shares during the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP increased its stake in shares of Sempra by 11.9% in the 4th quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 38,407,154 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $3,369,076,000 after purchasing an additional 4,082,261 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp increased its stake in shares of Sempra by 4.9% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 32,940,620 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $2,774,974,000 after purchasing an additional 1,539,026 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC boosted its position in Sempra by 8.0% during the fourth quarter. FMR LLC now owns 20,489,918 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,797,376,000 after purchasing an additional 1,511,313 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank acquired a new stake in Sempra in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $1,535,000,000. 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.