Sempra (NYSE:SRE) Rating Lowered to “Neutral” at The Goldman Sachs Group

Sempra (NYSE:SRE) was downgraded by stock analysts at The Goldman Sachs Group from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research note issued on Wednesday, MarketBeat Ratings reports. They currently have a $76.00 target price on the utilities provider’s stock, down from their previous target price of $99.00. The Goldman Sachs Group’s target price suggests a potential upside of 5.57% from the stock’s previous close.

A number of other research firms have also recently weighed in on SRE. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on shares of Sempra from $87.00 to $96.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, November 7th. Evercore ISI upped their target price on Sempra from $84.00 to $88.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 7th. Morgan Stanley raised Sempra from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and lifted their target price for the stock from $85.00 to $98.00 in a report on Friday, December 13th. Finally, Barclays dropped their price target on Sempra from $99.00 to $95.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, January 27th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $84.54.

Sempra Trading Down 1.2 %

Shares of NYSE SRE opened at $71.99 on Wednesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $45.60 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.86, a PEG ratio of 2.19 and a beta of 0.78. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $83.43 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $84.75. The company has a quick ratio of 0.47, a current ratio of 0.52 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.89. Sempra has a 52-week low of $64.89 and a 52-week high of $95.77.

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

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CEO Jeffrey W. Martin sold 49,737 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, January 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $82.94, for a total transaction of $4,125,186.78. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $165.88. This represents a 100.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. 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 transaction of $225,717.15. Following the sale, the senior vice president now owns 13,905 shares of the company’s stock, 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. Insiders own 0.24% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Sempra

Several large investors have recently made changes to their positions in SRE. Private Advisor Group LLC boosted its holdings in Sempra by 1.6% in the 3rd quarter. Private Advisor Group LLC now owns 8,742 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $731,000 after purchasing an additional 139 shares during the period. International Assets Investment Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Sempra by 8,093.4% in the 3rd quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 52,520 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $4,392,000 after purchasing an additional 51,879 shares during the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. grew its stake in Sempra by 17.8% during the third quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 17,804 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,489,000 after buying an additional 2,693 shares during the last quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. raised its position in Sempra by 20.0% in the 3rd quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 51,521 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $4,289,000 after purchasing an additional 8,587 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Arkadios Wealth Advisors acquired a new position in Sempra in the third quarter worth $351,000. 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.