Sempra (NYSE:SRE) Shares Bought by Marion Wealth Management

Marion Wealth Management boosted its holdings in shares of Sempra (NYSE:SRE) by 1.5% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 13,781 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 210 shares during the quarter. Marion Wealth Management’s holdings in Sempra were worth $1,209,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in SRE. FMR LLC lifted its position in shares of Sempra by 9.1% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 18,978,605 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,587,181,000 after buying an additional 1,582,653 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp raised its position in Sempra by 4.9% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 32,940,620 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $2,774,974,000 after acquiring an additional 1,539,026 shares during the period. Clearbridge Investments LLC lifted its holdings in Sempra by 6.9% during the second quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC now owns 13,452,912 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,023,228,000 after purchasing an additional 874,133 shares in the last quarter. National Bank of Canada FI grew its position in shares of Sempra by 201.2% in the third quarter. National Bank of Canada FI now owns 620,394 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $51,882,000 after purchasing an additional 414,406 shares during the period. Finally, Unigestion Holding SA purchased a new stake in shares of Sempra during the third quarter worth about $33,023,000. 89.65% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

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 transaction of $2,207,443.17. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now directly owns 11,190 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,041,677.10. The trade was a 67.94 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. 0.24% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on SRE shares. BMO Capital Markets raised their target price on Sempra from $93.00 to $96.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, October 21st. Barclays raised their price objective on Sempra from $89.00 to $99.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, December 2nd. Morgan Stanley upgraded shares of Sempra from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and increased their target price for the company from $85.00 to $98.00 in a research report on Friday, December 13th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted 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. Finally, Evercore ISI increased their price objective on shares of Sempra from $84.00 to $88.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, November 7th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $91.60.

Sempra Trading Down 2.2 %

Sempra stock traded down $1.73 during mid-day trading on Monday, hitting $77.00. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 9,327,622 shares, compared to its average volume of 5,172,295. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $89.01 and its two-hundred day moving average is $83.71. The company has a current ratio of 0.52, a quick ratio of 0.47 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.89. The firm has a market capitalization of $48.77 billion, a PE ratio of 16.96, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.45 and a beta of 0.78. Sempra has a 1 year low of $66.40 and a 1 year high of $95.77.

Sempra (NYSE:SRE) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, November 6th. The utilities provider reported $0.89 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.05 by ($0.16). Sempra had a return on equity of 8.06% and a net margin of 22.63%. The business had revenue of $2.78 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.54 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $1.08 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 16.7% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts anticipate that Sempra will post 4.76 EPS for the current year.

Sempra Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, January 15th. Investors of record on Thursday, December 5th will be issued a $0.62 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, December 5th. This represents a $2.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.22%. Sempra’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) 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.