BMO Capital Markets Cuts Sempra (NYSE:SRE) Price Target to $78.00

Sempra (NYSE:SRE) had its price target lowered by BMO Capital Markets from $92.00 to $78.00 in a report published on Tuesday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has an outperform rating on the utilities provider’s stock.

Several other research analysts have also weighed in on the company. Guggenheim reduced their target price on Sempra from $95.00 to $87.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, February 26th. Evercore ISI boosted 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. The Goldman Sachs Group cut Sempra from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and lowered their target price for the stock from $99.00 to $76.00 in a research note on Wednesday, February 26th. Jefferies Financial Group reiterated a “hold” rating and issued a $77.00 price target (down previously from $96.00) on shares of Sempra in a report on Monday. Finally, UBS Group downgraded shares of Sempra from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and lowered their price objective for the stock 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 eight have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $81.50.

Sempra Trading Down 3.3 %

NYSE SRE opened at $69.55 on Tuesday. 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 has a 12 month low of $64.89 and a 12 month high of $95.77. The company has a market capitalization of $45.31 billion, a PE ratio of 15.32, a P/E/G ratio of 2.19 and a beta of 0.78. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $81.79 and a 200 day simple moving average of $84.47.

Sempra (NYSE:SRE) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 25th. The utilities provider reported $1.50 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.47 by $0.03. Sempra had a net margin of 22.63% and a return on equity of 8.06%. The business had revenue of $3.76 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.73 billion. During the same period last year, the company posted $1.13 EPS. Sempra’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.6% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts forecast that Sempra will post 4.76 EPS for the current year.

Sempra Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 15th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, March 20th will be paid a $0.645 dividend. This is a positive change from Sempra’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.62. This represents a $2.58 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.71%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, March 20th. Sempra’s payout ratio is presently 58.37%.

Insider Transactions at Sempra

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

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. lifted its stake in Sempra by 633.4% in the 4th quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. now owns 29,917 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $2,624,000 after purchasing an additional 25,838 shares during the last quarter. Unigestion Holding SA bought a new stake in Sempra in the third quarter valued at approximately $33,023,000. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted its position in shares of Sempra by 8.8% in the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 3,428,132 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $286,695,000 after buying an additional 278,183 shares during the last quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Sempra by 1.9% during the 3rd quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 357,107 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $29,865,000 after acquiring an additional 6,709 shares during the period. Finally, Kovitz Investment Group Partners LLC bought a new position in shares of Sempra during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $675,000. Institutional investors own 89.65% of the company’s stock.

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.