Sempra Energy (NYSE:SRE) Earns Hold (C+) Rating from Weiss Ratings

Sempra Energy (NYSE:SRE)‘s stock had its “hold (c+)” rating reiterated by investment analysts at Weiss Ratings in a report released on Friday,Weiss Ratings reports.

A number of other research firms also recently issued reports on SRE. Evercore ISI set a $105.00 price objective on Sempra Energy and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, October 6th. Morgan Stanley reissued an “overweight” rating and set a $99.00 price target on shares of Sempra Energy in a research report on Wednesday. BTIG Research upgraded shares of Sempra Energy to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday. Mizuho lifted their price target on shares of Sempra Energy from $86.00 to $93.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, September 24th. Finally, Citigroup restated a “neutral” rating and set a $80.00 target price (up previously from $70.00) on shares of Sempra Energy in a research note on Monday, August 4th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seven have assigned a Buy rating and six have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $91.50.

Sempra Energy Stock Performance

NYSE SRE opened at $92.81 on Friday. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $86.31 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $79.60. The company has a quick ratio of 0.41, a current ratio of 0.48 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.93. Sempra Energy has a 12-month low of $61.90 and a 12-month high of $95.77. The firm has a market cap of $60.56 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.42, a PEG ratio of 2.83 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 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.82 by $0.07. The firm had revenue of $3 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.35 billion. Sempra Energy had a return on equity of 8.42% and a net margin of 20.28%.The business’s quarterly revenue was down .4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.89 EPS. On average, equities analysts forecast that Sempra Energy will post 4.76 EPS for the current year.

Insider Transactions at Sempra Energy

In other Sempra Energy news, EVP Caroline Ann Winn sold 5,114 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, August 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $82.01, for a total value of $419,399.14. Following the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 39,380 shares in the company, valued at $3,229,553.80. This represents a 11.49% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Director Kevin C. Sagara sold 28,864 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, September 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $84.21, for a total transaction of $2,430,637.44. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 15,475 shares in the company, valued at $1,303,149.75. This represents a 65.10% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 48,411 shares of company stock worth $4,141,790 over the last 90 days. Insiders own 0.27% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Sempra Energy

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Jacobi Capital Management LLC lifted its position in Sempra Energy by 10.3% during the first quarter. Jacobi Capital Management LLC now owns 5,641 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $403,000 after acquiring an additional 526 shares during the last quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of Sempra Energy by 21.6% in the first quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 3,656,805 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $260,950,000 after acquiring an additional 648,530 shares during the period. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. increased its stake in shares of Sempra Energy by 7.0% in the first quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 3,495,527 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $249,435,000 after acquiring an additional 229,045 shares during the period. Energy Income Partners LLC increased its stake in shares of Sempra Energy by 2.5% in the first quarter. Energy Income Partners LLC now owns 2,182,448 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $155,739,000 after acquiring an additional 52,838 shares during the period. Finally, Panagora Asset Management Inc. grew its position in Sempra Energy by 46.0% during the first quarter. Panagora Asset Management Inc. now owns 37,501 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $2,676,000 after buying an additional 11,811 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 89.65% of the company’s stock.

Sempra Energy 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.