Townsquare Capital LLC Raises Holdings in Sempra (NYSE:SRE)

Townsquare Capital LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Sempra (NYSE:SRE) by 45.2% in the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 31,337 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after buying an additional 9,758 shares during the quarter. Townsquare Capital LLC’s holdings in Sempra were worth $2,621,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Eastern Bank purchased a new position in shares of Sempra during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $28,000. Hollencrest Capital Management lifted its stake in Sempra by 250.0% during the third quarter. Hollencrest Capital Management now owns 378 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $32,000 after purchasing an additional 270 shares in the last quarter. Family Firm Inc. acquired a new position in Sempra during the second quarter worth $30,000. Ashton Thomas Private Wealth LLC purchased a new position in shares of Sempra during the second quarter worth $33,000. Finally, Financial Connections Group Inc. acquired a new position in Sempra during the 2nd quarter worth about $34,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 89.65% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, VP Trevor I. Mihalik sold 23,713 shares of Sempra stock in a transaction on 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 transaction, the vice president now directly owns 11,190 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,041,677.10. The trade was a 67.94 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Corporate insiders own 0.24% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

SRE has been the topic of several research reports. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price target on shares of Sempra from $87.00 to $96.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 7th. Jefferies Financial Group started coverage on shares of Sempra in a report on Thursday, October 24th. They set a “buy” rating and a $98.00 target price on the stock. Evercore ISI raised their price target on shares of Sempra from $84.00 to $88.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 7th. Bank of America began coverage on Sempra in a research report on Thursday, September 12th. They set a “buy” rating and a $94.00 price objective on the stock. Finally, Barclays lifted their target price on Sempra from $87.00 to $89.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 1st. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has given a hold rating and ten have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Sempra presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $89.00.

Sempra Stock Down 0.6 %

Shares of NYSE SRE opened at $93.67 on Friday. The business has a 50-day moving average of $86.75 and a two-hundred day moving average of $81.31. The company has a market capitalization of $59.33 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.63, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.59 and a beta of 0.75. Sempra has a 1 year low of $66.40 and a 1 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.

Sempra (NYSE:SRE) last posted 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 analysts’ expectations of $3.54 billion. Sempra had a return on equity of 8.06% and a net margin of 22.63%. Sempra’s revenue for the quarter was down 16.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $1.08 EPS. On average, analysts forecast that Sempra will post 4.77 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Sempra Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, January 15th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, December 5th will be paid a $0.62 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, December 5th. This represents a $2.48 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.65%. Sempra’s dividend 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.