Sempra (NYSE:SRE) Now Covered by Bank of America

Bank of America assumed coverage on shares of Sempra (NYSE:SRE) in a research report issued to clients and investors on Thursday, Marketbeat.com reports. The brokerage set a “buy” rating and a $94.00 price target on the utilities provider’s stock. Bank of America‘s target price would suggest a potential upside of 13.29% from the stock’s current price.

Other research analysts have also recently issued reports about the company. Evercore ISI boosted their target price on Sempra from $83.00 to $84.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 7th. LADENBURG THALM/SH SH decreased their target price on Sempra from $81.50 to $79.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, May 29th. Barclays upped their price objective on Sempra from $81.00 to $87.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 13th. Mizuho upped their price objective on Sempra from $79.00 to $86.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, May 17th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets upped their price objective on Sempra from $90.00 to $93.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has assigned a hold rating and ten have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Sempra presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $85.00.

Sempra Stock Up 1.6 %

NYSE:SRE opened at $82.97 on Thursday. Sempra has a 1 year low of $63.75 and a 1 year high of $84.28. The company has a current ratio of 0.46, a quick ratio of 0.41 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.84. The stock has a market cap of $52.53 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.38, a PEG ratio of 2.83 and a beta of 0.75. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $79.69 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $75.44.

Sempra (NYSE:SRE) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, August 6th. The utilities provider reported $0.89 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.92 by ($0.03). Sempra had a net margin of 22.31% and a return on equity of 8.58%. The business had revenue of $3.01 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.46 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.94 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was down 9.7% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts expect that Sempra will post 4.79 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity at Sempra

In related news, CAO Peter R. Wall sold 6,100 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, June 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $75.07, for a total transaction of $457,927.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 14,751 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,107,357.57. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. 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. Crestline Management LP raised its stake in Sempra by 14.0% in the fourth quarter. Crestline Management LP now owns 119,174 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $8,906,000 after buying an additional 14,674 shares during the period. Kingsview Wealth Management LLC raised its stake in Sempra by 932.2% in the fourth quarter. Kingsview Wealth Management LLC now owns 43,848 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $3,277,000 after buying an additional 39,600 shares during the period. GSA Capital Partners LLP bought a new stake in Sempra in the first quarter valued at approximately $815,000. D.A. Davidson & CO. raised its stake in Sempra by 14.4% in the fourth quarter. D.A. Davidson & CO. now owns 41,202 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $3,079,000 after buying an additional 5,197 shares during the period. Finally, Magnetar Financial LLC bought a new stake in Sempra in the first quarter valued at approximately $2,293,000. 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.