Sempra (NYSE:SRE) Shares Bought by Wedmont Private Capital

Wedmont Private Capital lifted its position in shares of Sempra (NYSE:SRE) by 5.9% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 5,716 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 318 shares during the quarter. Wedmont Private Capital’s holdings in Sempra were worth $466,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. GSA Capital Partners LLP purchased a new stake in shares of Sempra during the 1st quarter worth about $815,000. Magnetar Financial LLC acquired a new stake in Sempra in the 1st quarter valued at about $2,293,000. Forsta AP Fonden increased its holdings in shares of Sempra by 13.7% during the 1st quarter. Forsta AP Fonden now owns 117,200 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $8,418,000 after buying an additional 14,100 shares during the last quarter. Perpetual Ltd increased its holdings in shares of Sempra by 4.8% during the 1st quarter. Perpetual Ltd now owns 2,891,026 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $207,662,000 after buying an additional 133,119 shares during the last quarter. Finally, SG Americas Securities LLC increased its holdings in shares of Sempra by 249.9% during the 1st quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 155,854 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $11,195,000 after buying an additional 111,314 shares during the last quarter. 89.65% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Bank of America assumed coverage on shares of Sempra in a report on Thursday, September 12th. They set a “buy” rating and a $94.00 price target for the company. BMO Capital Markets increased their price objective on shares of Sempra from $90.00 to $93.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, September 12th. Evercore ISI increased their price objective on shares of Sempra from $83.00 to $84.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 7th. Morgan Stanley increased their price objective on shares of Sempra from $80.00 to $85.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, September 25th. Finally, Barclays raised their price target on shares of Sempra from $87.00 to $89.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 1st. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has assigned a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $86.20.

Sempra Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:SRE opened at $82.16 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.84, a current ratio of 0.46 and a quick ratio of 0.41. The firm has a market capitalization of $51.77 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.22, a P/E/G ratio of 2.59 and a beta of 0.75. Sempra has a 12 month low of $66.40 and a 12 month high of $84.47. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $81.59 and its 200 day moving average price is $77.14.

Sempra (NYSE:SRE) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, August 6th. The utilities provider reported $0.89 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.92 by ($0.03). The business had revenue of $3.01 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.46 billion. Sempra had a net margin of 22.31% and a return on equity of 8.58%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 9.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.94 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Sempra will post 4.79 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Sempra Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, October 15th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, September 26th will be issued a $0.62 dividend. This represents a $2.48 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.02%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, September 26th. Sempra’s payout ratio is 54.99%.

Sempra 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.