Sempra (NYSE:SRE) Now Covered by Analysts at Jefferies Financial Group

Stock analysts at Jefferies Financial Group initiated coverage on shares of Sempra (NYSE:SRE) in a note issued to investors on Thursday, Briefing.com reports. The brokerage set a “buy” rating and a $98.00 price target on the utilities provider’s stock. Jefferies Financial Group’s target price points to a potential upside of 14.01% from the company’s previous close.

A number of other equities analysts have also commented on SRE. Barclays lifted their price target on shares of Sempra from $87.00 to $89.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 1st. Bank of America started coverage on shares of Sempra in a research report on Thursday, September 12th. They set a “buy” rating and a $94.00 target price for the company. Evercore ISI upped their price target on shares of Sempra from $83.00 to $84.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, August 7th. BMO Capital Markets lifted their price objective on Sempra from $93.00 to $96.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday. Finally, Morgan Stanley increased their target price on Sempra from $80.00 to $85.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, September 25th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has issued a hold rating and ten have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Sempra presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $87.55.

Sempra Stock Up 1.1 %

SRE stock opened at $85.96 on Thursday. The firm has a market cap of $54.17 billion, a PE ratio of 19.06, a PEG ratio of 2.73 and a beta of 0.75. Sempra has a 1 year low of $66.40 and a 1 year high of $86.13. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $82.69 and a 200 day simple moving average of $77.97. The company has a current ratio of 0.46, a quick ratio of 0.41 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.84.

Sempra (NYSE:SRE) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, August 6th. The utilities provider reported $0.89 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.92 by ($0.03). Sempra had a return on equity of 8.58% and a net margin of 22.31%. The company had revenue of $3.01 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.46 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $0.94 EPS. The business’s revenue was down 9.7% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Sempra will post 4.79 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Eastern Bank acquired a new position in shares of Sempra in the 3rd quarter valued at $28,000. Family Firm Inc. acquired a new position in Sempra in the second quarter worth about $30,000. Ashton Thomas Private Wealth LLC bought a new position in Sempra during the second quarter worth about $33,000. Financial Connections Group Inc. acquired a new stake in Sempra during the second quarter valued at approximately $34,000. Finally, SouthState Corp grew its stake in shares of Sempra by 900.0% in the 2nd quarter. SouthState Corp now owns 470 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $36,000 after purchasing an additional 423 shares during the period. 89.65% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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.