Sempra (NYSE:SRE) Announces Earnings Results, Beats Expectations By $0.03 EPS

Sempra (NYSE:SRE) issued its earnings results on Tuesday. The utilities provider reported $1.50 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.47 by $0.03, Briefing.com reports. Sempra had a return on equity of 8.06% and a net margin of 22.63%. The firm had revenue of $3.76 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.73 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $1.13 earnings per share. Sempra’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.6% on a year-over-year basis.

Sempra Stock Down 0.6 %

SRE stock traded down $0.41 during trading on Thursday, hitting $72.44. 2,773,973 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 5,173,206. The stock has a market capitalization of $45.88 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.97, a PEG ratio of 2.19 and a beta of 0.78. Sempra has a 52-week low of $64.89 and a 52-week high of $95.77. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $83.71 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $84.84. The company has a current ratio of 0.52, a quick ratio of 0.47 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.89.

Sempra Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 15th. Investors of record on Thursday, March 20th will be paid a dividend of $0.645 per share. This is a boost from Sempra’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.62. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, March 20th. This represents a $2.58 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.56%. Sempra’s payout ratio is presently 56.11%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Sempra news, SVP Alexander Lisa Larroque sold 2,755 shares of Sempra stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $81.93, for a total transaction of $225,717.15. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 13,905 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,139,236.65. The trade was a 16.54 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CEO Jeffrey W. Martin sold 49,737 shares of Sempra stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, January 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $82.94, for a total value of $4,125,186.78. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2 shares in the company, valued at approximately $165.88. This trade represents a 100.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.24% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages have recently weighed in on SRE. Evercore ISI upped their target price on Sempra from $84.00 to $88.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 7th. Guggenheim dropped their target price on Sempra from $95.00 to $87.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday. The Goldman Sachs Group downgraded Sempra from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and dropped their target price for the company from $99.00 to $76.00 in a research report on Wednesday. Morgan Stanley dropped their target price on Sempra from $100.00 to $85.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday. Finally, Barclays downgraded Sempra from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and dropped their target price for the company from $95.00 to $72.00 in a research report on Thursday. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with 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 target price of $84.54.

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.