Sempra Energy (NYSE:SRE) Stock Now Rated “Moderate Buy” by Sell-Side Brokerages

Sempra Energy (NYSE:SRE) has been given a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” by the nineteen analysts that are covering the stock, MarketBeat Ratings reports. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating, thirteen have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating on the company. The average 12 month price target among brokers that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $101.03.

SRE has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Morgan Stanley reduced their target price on Sempra Energy from $104.00 to $100.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, September 18th. TD Cowen began coverage on Sempra Energy in a research note on Wednesday, July 8th. They issued a “buy” rating on the stock. Scotiabank started coverage on Sempra Energy in a report on Tuesday, September 29th. They issued a “sector perform” rating and a $83.00 price target for the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their price objective on shares of Sempra Energy from $102.00 to $99.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Monday. Finally, Mizuho reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and set a $84.00 price objective (down from $104.00) on shares of Sempra Energy in a research note on Monday, August 31st.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Sempra Energy

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. BlackRock Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Sempra Energy during the 2nd quarter valued at $5,588,577,000. Bank of America Corp DE increased its holdings in shares of Sempra Energy by 16.1% during the 1st quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 10,385,174 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,009,127,000 after buying an additional 1,441,981 shares during the last quarter. Deutsche Bank AG purchased a new position in shares of Sempra Energy in the 2nd quarter worth $896,599,000. Legal & General Group Plc purchased a new position in shares of Sempra Energy in the 2nd quarter worth $538,775,000. Finally, Bank of New York Mellon Corp purchased a new position in shares of Sempra Energy in the 2nd quarter worth $465,202,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 89.65% of the company’s stock.

Sempra Energy Stock Performance

Shares of SRE opened at $81.96 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.78, a quick ratio of 1.62 and a current ratio of 1.64. The company has a market capitalization of $53.60 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.28, a PEG ratio of 2.28 and a beta of 0.55. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $82.59 and its 200 day simple moving average is $89.17. Sempra Energy has a 1 year low of $76.21 and a 1 year high of $101.04.

Sempra Energy (NYSE:SRE) last released its earnings results on Thursday, August 6th. The utilities provider reported $1.16 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.01 by $0.15. Sempra Energy had a net margin of 16.70% and a return on equity of 8.49%. The firm had revenue of $3 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.14 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $0.89 EPS. Sempra Energy’s revenue for the quarter was down .1% on a year-over-year basis. Sempra Energy has set its FY 2027 guidance at 5.100-5.700 EPS and its FY 2026 guidance at 4.800-5.300 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Sempra Energy will post 5.12 EPS for the current year.

Sempra Energy Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, October 15th. Investors of record on Thursday, September 24th will be given a $0.6575 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, September 24th. This represents a $2.63 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.2%. Sempra Energy’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 76.23%.

About Sempra Energy

Sempra, formerly known as Sempra Energy, is an energy infrastructure company headquartered in San Diego, California. The company develops, owns and operates infrastructure that supports the delivery of electricity and natural gas, with operations focused primarily on North America.

Sempra’s principal businesses include regulated utilities and infrastructure development. Its California utilities, San Diego Gas & Electric and Southern California Gas, provide electric and natural gas services to customers in Southern California.