BMO Capital Markets Forecasts Strong Price Appreciation for Sempra Energy (NYSE:SRE) Stock

Sempra Energy (NYSE:SRE) had its price objective hoisted by BMO Capital Markets from $95.00 to $99.00 in a report released on Wednesday, MarketBeat Ratings reports. The firm currently has an “outperform” rating on the utilities provider’s stock. BMO Capital Markets’ target price indicates a potential upside of 7.82% from the company’s previous close.

SRE has been the subject of a number of other reports. Weiss Ratings restated a “hold (c+)” rating on shares of Sempra Energy in a research note on Wednesday, October 8th. Barclays set a $101.00 price target on shares of Sempra Energy and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday. BTIG Research started coverage on shares of Sempra Energy in a research note on Tuesday. They set a “buy” rating and a $106.00 price objective for the company. Evercore ISI set a $105.00 target price on shares of Sempra Energy and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, October 6th. Finally, Mizuho upped their price target on Sempra Energy from $86.00 to $93.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, September 24th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seven have assigned a Buy rating and six have assigned a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $91.50.

Sempra Energy Price Performance

Shares of SRE opened at $91.82 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.93, a quick ratio of 0.41 and a current ratio of 0.48. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $86.07 and a 200-day moving average price of $79.40. Sempra Energy has a fifty-two week low of $61.90 and a fifty-two week high of $95.77. The stock has a market capitalization of $59.91 billion, a PE ratio of 22.18, a PEG ratio of 2.84 and a beta of 0.66.

Sempra Energy (NYSE:SRE) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, August 7th. The utilities provider reported $0.89 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.82 by $0.07. The company had revenue of $3 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.35 billion. Sempra Energy had a net margin of 20.28% and a return on equity of 8.42%. Sempra Energy’s revenue for the quarter was down .4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.89 earnings per share. Equities analysts predict that Sempra Energy will post 4.76 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Sempra Energy

In other news, Director Kevin C. Sagara sold 28,864 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, September 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $84.21, for a total value of $2,430,637.44. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 15,475 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,303,149.75. This represents a 65.10% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, EVP Caroline Ann Winn sold 5,114 shares of Sempra Energy stock in a transaction dated Thursday, August 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $82.01, for a total value of $419,399.14. Following the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 39,380 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $3,229,553.80. This trade represents a 11.49% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders sold 48,411 shares of company stock worth $4,141,790. 0.27% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Sempra Energy

A number of institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of SRE. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Sempra Energy by 3.3% in the 2nd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 66,328,942 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $5,025,777,000 after acquiring an additional 2,090,840 shares during the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP raised its holdings in shares of Sempra Energy by 26.8% during the first quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 48,686,047 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $3,474,236,000 after purchasing an additional 10,278,893 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp lifted its position in Sempra Energy by 3.7% during the second quarter. State Street Corp now owns 34,380,068 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $2,626,827,000 after purchasing an additional 1,214,931 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in Sempra Energy by 3.9% in the second quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 14,036,572 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,058,214,000 after purchasing an additional 525,750 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Newport Trust Company LLC grew its position in Sempra Energy by 0.3% during the 1st quarter. Newport Trust Company LLC now owns 13,331,160 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $951,312,000 after purchasing an additional 41,104 shares during the period. 89.65% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

About Sempra Energy

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.