Jefferies Financial Group Cuts Sempra (NYSE:SRE) Price Target to $75.00

Sempra (NYSE:SRE) had its price objective decreased by Jefferies Financial Group from $77.00 to $75.00 in a research note published on Tuesday, Marketbeat reports. Jefferies Financial Group currently has a hold rating on the utilities provider’s stock.

Other research analysts have also recently issued research reports about the company. The Goldman Sachs Group cut Sempra from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and dropped their price objective for the stock from $99.00 to $76.00 in a research note on Wednesday, February 26th. Barclays lowered Sempra from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and cut their price target for the company from $95.00 to $72.00 in a research note on Thursday, February 27th. Mizuho lowered their price objective on shares of Sempra from $92.00 to $76.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, February 26th. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their target price on shares of Sempra from $88.00 to $85.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, March 26th. Finally, Morgan Stanley boosted their price target on shares of Sempra from $85.00 to $86.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, March 20th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $80.31.

Sempra Price Performance

SRE opened at $70.21 on Tuesday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.47, a current ratio of 0.52 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.89. The business has a fifty day moving average of $73.11 and a 200 day moving average of $81.71. Sempra has a 52-week low of $61.90 and a 52-week high of $95.77. The stock has a market cap of $45.77 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.46, a PEG ratio of 2.19 and a beta of 0.65.

Sempra (NYSE:SRE) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 25th. The utilities provider reported $1.50 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.47 by $0.03. The firm 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%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $1.13 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Sempra will post 4.76 EPS for the current year.

Sempra Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, April 15th. Investors of record on Thursday, March 20th were paid a dividend of $0.645 per share. This represents a $2.58 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.67%. This is an increase from Sempra’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.62. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, March 20th. Sempra’s payout ratio is 58.37%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Sempra

In related news, Director Pablo Ferrero acquired 2,600 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 17th. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $70.96 per share, with a total value of $184,496.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 15,649 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,110,453.04. This trade represents a 19.92 % increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Jeffrey W. Martin sold 49,737 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2 shares in the company, valued at approximately $165.88. This represents a 100.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders acquired 9,319 shares of company stock worth $651,676 and sold 57,309 shares worth $4,694,019. 0.24% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Sempra

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in SRE. Greenwood Capital Associates LLC raised its stake in shares of Sempra by 11.6% in the first quarter. Greenwood Capital Associates LLC now owns 15,708 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,121,000 after purchasing an additional 1,629 shares during the last quarter. Define Financial LLC lifted its stake in Sempra by 39.6% during the 1st quarter. Define Financial LLC now owns 3,764 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $257,000 after acquiring an additional 1,068 shares during the period. My Legacy Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Sempra by 2.4% in the 1st quarter. My Legacy Advisors LLC now owns 8,412 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $600,000 after acquiring an additional 201 shares during the last quarter. Redhawk Wealth Advisors Inc. increased its stake in shares of Sempra by 3.2% in the first quarter. Redhawk Wealth Advisors Inc. now owns 5,722 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $408,000 after acquiring an additional 178 shares during the period. Finally, Ipsen Advisor Group LLC raised its holdings in shares of Sempra by 5.9% during the first quarter. Ipsen Advisor Group LLC now owns 8,883 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $634,000 after purchasing an additional 492 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.