Sempra (NYSE:SRE) Downgraded to Hold Rating by Argus

Argus lowered shares of Sempra (NYSE:SRE) from a buy rating to a hold rating in a research note released on Tuesday morning, Marketbeat reports.

SRE has been the topic of a number of other reports. Guggenheim reduced their target price on shares of Sempra from $95.00 to $87.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, February 26th. Morgan Stanley reduced their target price on shares of Sempra from $100.00 to $85.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, February 26th. Mizuho dropped their price target on shares of Sempra from $92.00 to $76.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, February 26th. Barclays cut shares of Sempra from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and dropped their price target for the company from $95.00 to $72.00 in a research report on Thursday, February 27th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group reiterated a “hold” rating and set a $77.00 price target (down from $96.00) on shares of Sempra in a research report on Monday, March 3rd. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $81.50.

Sempra Stock Performance

NYSE:SRE opened at $70.74 on Tuesday. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $79.04 and its 200-day moving average price is $83.84. The company has a current ratio of 0.52, a quick ratio of 0.47 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.89. The company has a market cap of $46.09 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.58, a P/E/G ratio of 2.19 and a beta of 0.76. Sempra has a twelve month low of $64.89 and a twelve month high of $95.77.

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. Sempra had a net margin of 22.63% and a return on equity of 8.06%. The firm 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 firm posted $1.13 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.6% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Sempra will post 4.76 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Sempra Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 15th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, March 20th will be issued a dividend of $0.645 per share. This represents a $2.58 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.65%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, March 20th. This is a boost from Sempra’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.62. Sempra’s payout ratio is 58.37%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, Director Pablo Ferrero acquired 2,600 shares of Sempra stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 17th. The stock was acquired at an average price of $70.96 per share, for a total transaction of $184,496.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 15,649 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,110,453.04. This represents a 19.92 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Director Michael N. Mears acquired 1,000 shares of Sempra stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 10th. The shares were bought at an average price of $67.70 per share, with a total value of $67,700.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 5,000 shares in the company, valued at approximately $338,500. The trade was a 25.00 % increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Insiders bought 9,319 shares of company stock worth $651,676 in the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 0.24% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Sempra

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. raised its position 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 purchased a new stake in Sempra in the 3rd quarter valued at $33,023,000. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised its position in Sempra by 8.8% in the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 3,428,132 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $286,695,000 after purchasing an additional 278,183 shares during the last quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. increased its stake in Sempra by 1.9% in the 3rd quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 357,107 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $29,865,000 after buying an additional 6,709 shares during the period. Finally, Kovitz Investment Group Partners LLC acquired a new position in Sempra in the 3rd quarter valued at $675,000. 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.