Evoke Wealth LLC Has $2.40 Million Stock Position in Sempra (NYSE:SRE)

Evoke Wealth LLC lifted its stake in Sempra (NYSE:SRE) by 14.4% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 27,220 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 3,420 shares during the quarter. Evoke Wealth LLC’s holdings in Sempra were worth $2,402,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Empowered Funds LLC lifted its stake in Sempra by 9.7% during the third quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 10,744 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $899,000 after purchasing an additional 951 shares during the last quarter. Natixis Advisors LLC boosted its stake in Sempra by 35.7% in the third quarter. Natixis Advisors LLC now owns 594,683 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $49,733,000 after buying an additional 156,397 shares in the last quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans boosted its stake in Sempra by 6.8% in the third quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans now owns 31,674 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $2,649,000 after buying an additional 2,010 shares in the last quarter. Swiss National Bank grew its position in Sempra by 0.4% in the third quarter. Swiss National Bank now owns 1,878,400 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $157,091,000 after acquiring an additional 6,700 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Prudent Man Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Sempra by 19.9% in the third quarter. Prudent Man Advisors LLC now owns 10,675 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $893,000 after acquiring an additional 1,773 shares during the last quarter. 89.65% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Sempra news, Director James C. Yardley acquired 5,019 shares of Sempra stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 12th. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $69.74 per share, for a total transaction of $350,025.06. Following the purchase, the director now owns 5,019 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $350,025.06. This represents a ∞ increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Director Pablo Ferrero purchased 2,600 shares of Sempra stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 17th. The stock was bought at an average price of $70.96 per share, with a total value of $184,496.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 15,649 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,110,453.04. This represents a 19.92 % increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have purchased 9,319 shares of company stock valued at $651,676. 0.24% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts have recently commented on the company. UBS Group cut Sempra from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and dropped their price target for the company from $95.00 to $78.00 in a research note on Wednesday, February 26th. Mizuho dropped their price target on shares of Sempra from $92.00 to $76.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, February 26th. The Goldman Sachs Group lowered Sempra from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and cut their target price for the company from $99.00 to $76.00 in a research report on Wednesday, February 26th. Morgan Stanley cut their target price on shares of Sempra from $100.00 to $85.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, February 26th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price objective on Sempra from $96.00 to $88.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, February 26th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $81.50.

Sempra Stock Performance

Shares of Sempra stock opened at $71.03 on Tuesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $46.27 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.65, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.19 and a beta of 0.76. 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 business’s fifty day simple moving average is $79.31 and its 200 day simple moving average is $83.92. Sempra has a 12 month low of $64.89 and a 12 month high of $95.77.

Sempra (NYSE:SRE) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 25th. The utilities provider reported $1.50 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.47 by $0.03. Sempra had a net margin of 22.63% and a return on equity of 8.06%. The company had revenue of $3.76 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.73 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $1.13 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 7.6% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts anticipate that Sempra will post 4.76 EPS for the current year.

Sempra Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 15th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, March 20th will be paid a dividend of $0.645 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, March 20th. This represents a $2.58 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.63%. This is a positive change from Sempra’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.62. Sempra’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 58.37%.

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.