Independent Advisor Alliance Has $539,000 Stock Position in Sempra (NYSE:SRE)

Independent Advisor Alliance reduced its position in Sempra (NYSE:SRE) by 6.9% during the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 6,441 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 474 shares during the quarter. Independent Advisor Alliance’s holdings in Sempra were worth $539,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. B. Riley Wealth Advisors Inc. increased its holdings in Sempra by 36.2% in the first quarter. B. Riley Wealth Advisors Inc. now owns 13,766 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $945,000 after buying an additional 3,658 shares during the last quarter. iA Global Asset Management Inc. increased its stake in shares of Sempra by 30.4% during the 1st quarter. iA Global Asset Management Inc. now owns 6,984 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $502,000 after purchasing an additional 1,629 shares during the last quarter. Sanibel Captiva Trust Company Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Sempra by 5.8% during the 1st quarter. Sanibel Captiva Trust Company Inc. now owns 5,434 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $390,000 after purchasing an additional 300 shares in the last quarter. Swedbank AB acquired a new stake in shares of Sempra in the 1st quarter valued at $27,338,000. Finally, Atria Investments Inc boosted its holdings in Sempra by 12.0% in the first quarter. Atria Investments Inc now owns 39,800 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $2,859,000 after purchasing an additional 4,258 shares in the last quarter. 89.65% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts have weighed in on the company. Barclays boosted their price target on Sempra from $87.00 to $89.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 1st. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on Sempra from $87.00 to $96.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, November 7th. Evercore ISI increased their price target on Sempra from $84.00 to $88.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, November 7th. Jefferies Financial Group started coverage on shares of Sempra in a research note on Thursday, October 24th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $98.00 price objective for the company. Finally, Bank of America began coverage on shares of Sempra in a research note on Thursday, September 12th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $94.00 target price on the stock. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has given a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $89.00.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, VP Trevor I. Mihalik sold 23,713 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, November 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $93.09, for a total value of $2,207,443.17. Following the sale, the vice president now owns 11,190 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,041,677.10. This represents a 67.94 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. 0.27% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Sempra Stock Up 1.1 %

Shares of SRE stock opened at $94.28 on Thursday. Sempra has a one year low of $66.40 and a one year high of $95.77. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.89, a current ratio of 0.52 and a quick ratio of 0.47. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $86.30 and a 200 day moving average price of $81.07. The stock has a market cap of $59.72 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.77, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.60 and a beta of 0.75.

Sempra (NYSE:SRE) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, November 6th. The utilities provider reported $0.89 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.05 by ($0.16). The business had revenue of $2.78 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.54 billion. Sempra had a net margin of 22.63% and a return on equity of 8.06%. Sempra’s revenue was down 16.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $1.08 earnings per share. Analysts predict that Sempra will post 4.77 earnings per share for the current year.

Sempra Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, January 15th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, December 5th will be issued a $0.62 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, December 5th. This represents a $2.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.63%. Sempra’s payout ratio is presently 54.63%.

Sempra 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.