Sempra’s (SRE) Hold Rating Reiterated at Jefferies Financial Group

Sempra (NYSE:SRE)‘s stock had its “hold” rating reissued by research analysts at Jefferies Financial Group in a research note issued to investors on Monday, Marketbeat Ratings reports. They presently have a $77.00 target price on the utilities provider’s stock, down from their prior target price of $96.00. Jefferies Financial Group’s price target suggests a potential upside of 7.69% from the company’s previous close.

A number of other analysts have also issued reports on the company. Barclays lowered Sempra from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and lowered their price target for the company from $95.00 to $72.00 in a report on Thursday. Morgan Stanley dropped their price target on Sempra from $100.00 to $85.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, February 26th. 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 report on Wednesday, February 26th. Evercore ISI increased their target price on shares of Sempra from $84.00 to $88.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, November 7th. Finally, UBS Group downgraded shares of Sempra from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and cut their target price for the company from $95.00 to $78.00 in a research report on Wednesday, February 26th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $82.92.

Sempra Trading Down 0.6 %

Shares of NYSE:SRE opened at $71.50 on Monday. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $83.13 and a 200 day moving average of $84.79. The company has a market cap of $45.29 billion, a PE ratio of 15.75, 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.

Sempra (NYSE:SRE) last posted its quarterly earnings results 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 business had revenue of $3.76 billion during 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 firm’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 company posted $1.13 EPS. As a group, equities research 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 the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, January 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $82.94, for a total transaction of $4,125,186.78. Following the transaction, 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 position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, SVP Alexander Lisa Larroque sold 2,755 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $81.93, for a total value of $225,717.15. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 13,905 shares in the company, valued at $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 currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Sempra

Large investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of Sempra in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $1,535,000,000. Wellington Management Group LLP raised its holdings in shares of Sempra by 11.9% in the fourth quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 38,407,154 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $3,369,076,000 after buying an additional 4,082,261 shares during the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. raised its holdings in shares of Sempra by 70.6% in the fourth quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 6,666,240 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $584,763,000 after buying an additional 2,758,037 shares during the last quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC lifted its stake in shares of Sempra by 71.3% during the fourth quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 4,651,923 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $408,069,000 after buying an additional 1,936,865 shares during the period. Finally, FMR LLC grew its holdings in shares of Sempra by 9.1% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 18,978,605 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,587,181,000 after buying an additional 1,582,653 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors 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.