Sempra (NYSE:SRE) Given New $93.00 Price Target at BMO Capital Markets

Sempra (NYSE:SRE) had its price objective boosted by BMO Capital Markets from $90.00 to $93.00 in a report published on Thursday, Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has an outperform rating on the utilities provider’s stock.

A number of other equities analysts also recently issued reports on the company. Morgan Stanley raised their price target on Sempra from $77.00 to $80.00 and gave the stock an equal weight rating in a research note on Friday, August 23rd. Evercore ISI raised their price target on Sempra from $83.00 to $84.00 and gave the company an outperform rating in a report on Wednesday, August 7th. Mizuho boosted their price target on shares of Sempra from $79.00 to $86.00 and gave the stock a buy rating in a research note on Friday, May 17th. LADENBURG THALM/SH SH cut their target price on shares of Sempra from $81.50 to $79.00 and set a buy rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, May 29th. Finally, Barclays lifted their price target on Sempra from $81.00 to $87.00 and gave the stock an overweight rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 13th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has assigned a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and an average target price of $85.00.

Sempra Price Performance

SRE stock opened at $82.97 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.84, a current ratio of 0.46 and a quick ratio of 0.41. Sempra has a 1 year low of $63.75 and a 1 year high of $84.28. The company has a market cap of $52.53 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.38, a PEG ratio of 2.83 and a beta of 0.75. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $79.69 and a 200 day moving average of $75.51.

Sempra (NYSE:SRE) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, August 6th. The utilities provider reported $0.89 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.92 by ($0.03). Sempra had a return on equity of 8.58% and a net margin of 22.31%. The firm had revenue of $3.01 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.46 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $0.94 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 9.7% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Sempra will post 4.79 EPS for the current year.

Sempra Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, October 15th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, September 26th will be given a dividend of $0.62 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, September 26th. This represents a $2.48 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.99%. Sempra’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 54.93%.

Insider Activity at Sempra

In other news, CAO Peter R. Wall sold 6,100 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, June 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $75.07, for a total value of $457,927.00. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 14,751 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,107,357.57. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. 0.24% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Sempra

Hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in Sempra during the 4th quarter valued at about $958,253,000. Wellington Management Group LLP lifted its stake in Sempra by 12.1% during the 4th quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 27,123,899 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $2,026,969,000 after acquiring an additional 2,917,668 shares during the period. Nordea Investment Management AB boosted its holdings in shares of Sempra by 5,279.4% in the 1st quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 1,583,816 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $113,591,000 after acquiring an additional 1,554,374 shares during the last quarter. M&G Plc acquired a new stake in shares of Sempra in the first quarter worth $64,994,000. Finally, Clearbridge Investments LLC lifted its position in Sempra by 6.9% during the second quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC now owns 13,452,912 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,023,228,000 after purchasing an additional 874,133 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 89.65% of the company’s stock.

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.