UPDATE: Bank of America Upgrades Sempra Energy; Raises PO

According to a research report published this morning, Bank of America has upgraded Sempra Energy SRE from Neutral to Buy, and increased PO from $67 to $71. In the report, Bank of America commented. "We are upgrading SRE to Buy from Neutral. SRE's stock has been one of the best performing utilities year to date (~19% vs UTY) but we still see meaningful upside in the stock from these levels. SRE's growth near-term is driven by its regulated utilites and renewable portfolio but the step change is LNG liquefaction. We see LNG liquefaction and a potential subsequent MLP as adding between $12-$16 of upside to the stock, of which we think only $3 is reflected in the stock." Sempra Energy closed yesterday at $64.45.