Sempra (NYSE:SRE) Price Target Increased to $79.00 by Analysts at Barclays

Sempra (NYSE:SRE) had its price target hoisted by Barclays from $77.00 to $79.00 in a research report released on Thursday, Benzinga reports. They currently have an overweight rating on the utilities provider’s stock.

Several other equities research analysts have also recently issued reports on the company. Mizuho lowered their price objective on Sempra from $83.00 to $79.00 and set a buy rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, January 25th. Morgan Stanley decreased their target price on shares of Sempra from $75.00 to $73.00 and set an equal weight rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, November 21st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised shares of Sempra from a neutral rating to an overweight rating and raised their target price for the stock from $78.00 to $86.00 in a research note on Tuesday, December 12th. Royal Bank of Canada reissued an outperform rating and issued a $82.00 target price on shares of Sempra in a research note on Wednesday, March 6th. Finally, StockNews.com lowered shares of Sempra from a hold rating to a sell rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 20th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has issued a hold rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of Moderate Buy and an average price target of $82.00.

Sempra Price Performance

SRE stock traded up $0.59 during trading on Thursday, hitting $70.60. The stock had a trading volume of 2,235,927 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,920,630. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.85, a current ratio of 0.54 and a quick ratio of 0.49. Sempra has a twelve month low of $63.75 and a twelve month high of $79.51. The stock has a market capitalization of $44.63 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.74, a PEG ratio of 2.94 and a beta of 0.71. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $71.48 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $71.65.

Sempra (NYSE:SRE) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 27th. The utilities provider reported $1.13 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.11 by $0.02. Sempra had a return on equity of 9.45% and a net margin of 18.26%. The company had revenue of $3.49 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.01 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.17 EPS. Sempra’s revenue was up 1.0% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts predict that Sempra will post 4.83 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Sempra Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, April 15th. Investors of record on Thursday, March 21st will be paid a dividend of $0.62 per share. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, March 20th. This represents a $2.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.51%. This is an increase from Sempra’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.60. Sempra’s payout ratio is presently 49.69%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, VP Trevor I. Mihalik sold 57,571 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $70.59, for a total value of $4,063,936.89. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now directly owns 10,922 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $770,983.98. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. In other news, VP Trevor I. Mihalik sold 57,571 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $70.59, for a total value of $4,063,936.89. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now directly owns 10,922 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $770,983.98. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, insider Diana L. Day sold 3,937 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $71.21, for a total transaction of $280,353.77. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 18,145 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,292,105.45. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 156,622 shares of company stock worth $11,089,713. Corporate insiders own 0.24% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. SWP Financial LLC purchased a new position in Sempra during the fourth quarter worth about $1,144,000. ICA Group Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in Sempra during the fourth quarter worth about $95,000. SageView Advisory Group LLC raised its holdings in Sempra by 6.4% during the fourth quarter. SageView Advisory Group LLC now owns 70,431 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $5,066,000 after purchasing an additional 4,222 shares in the last quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC raised its holdings in Sempra by 62.6% during the fourth quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 6,467 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $483,000 after purchasing an additional 2,490 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Wellington Management Group LLP grew its position in Sempra by 12.1% during the fourth quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 27,123,899 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $2,026,969,000 after buying an additional 2,917,668 shares during the period. 84.83% 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.