Petix & Botte Co Sells 4,230 Shares of Sempra (NYSE:SRE)

Petix & Botte Co lowered its stake in shares of Sempra (NYSE:SRE) by 17.5% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 20,000 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 4,230 shares during the quarter. Petix & Botte Co’s holdings in Sempra were worth $1,754,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Eastern Bank purchased a new stake in Sempra during the third quarter valued at $28,000. Hollencrest Capital Management increased its position in shares of Sempra by 250.0% during the 3rd quarter. Hollencrest Capital Management now owns 378 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $32,000 after purchasing an additional 270 shares during the last quarter. ST Germain D J Co. Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Sempra by 225.6% in the 4th quarter. ST Germain D J Co. Inc. now owns 433 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $38,000 after purchasing an additional 300 shares during the period. LRI Investments LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Sempra by 180.4% in the third quarter. LRI Investments LLC now owns 443 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $40,000 after buying an additional 285 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Mather Group LLC. grew its position in Sempra by 35.5% during the third quarter. Mather Group LLC. now owns 740 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $62,000 after buying an additional 194 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 89.65% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

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

Sempra Price Performance

SRE stock opened at $82.78 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.89, a quick ratio of 0.47 and a current ratio of 0.52. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $87.72 and its 200-day moving average price is $84.16. Sempra has a one year low of $66.40 and a one year high of $95.77. The company has a market capitalization of $52.43 billion, a PE ratio of 18.23, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.10 and a beta of 0.78.

Sempra (NYSE:SRE) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, November 6th. The utilities provider reported $0.89 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.05 by ($0.16). Sempra had a net margin of 22.63% and a return on equity of 8.06%. The company had revenue of $2.78 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.54 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $1.08 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 16.7% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Sempra will post 4.77 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Sempra Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, January 15th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, December 5th were issued a dividend of $0.62 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, December 5th. This represents a $2.48 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.00%. Sempra’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 54.63%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts have weighed in on the stock. 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 assumed coverage on Sempra in a research report on Thursday, October 24th. They set a “buy” rating and a $98.00 target price on the stock. Evercore ISI upped their price target on Sempra from $84.00 to $88.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 7th. BMO Capital Markets lifted their price objective on Sempra from $93.00 to $96.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, October 21st. Finally, Barclays increased their target price on shares of Sempra from $89.00 to $99.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, December 2nd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $91.60.

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.