Kiker Wealth Management LLC Acquires Shares of 2,953 Sempra (NYSE:SRE)

Kiker Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in Sempra (NYSE:SRE) during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund purchased 2,953 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $259,000.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Lindbrook Capital LLC lifted its position in Sempra by 5.4% during the fourth quarter. Lindbrook Capital LLC now owns 2,410 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $211,000 after buying an additional 124 shares in the last quarter. Pinnacle West Asset Management Inc. raised its position in Sempra by 5.1% in the fourth quarter. Pinnacle West Asset Management Inc. now owns 2,585 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $227,000 after purchasing an additional 125 shares during the period. Avantax Planning Partners Inc. raised its position in Sempra by 2.0% in the fourth quarter. Avantax Planning Partners Inc. now owns 7,423 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $651,000 after purchasing an additional 147 shares during the period. LVM Capital Management Ltd. MI raised its position in Sempra by 2.4% in the fourth quarter. LVM Capital Management Ltd. MI now owns 6,677 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $586,000 after purchasing an additional 155 shares during the period. Finally, Kingsview Wealth Management LLC raised its position in Sempra by 0.3% in the third quarter. Kingsview Wealth Management LLC now owns 46,518 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $3,890,000 after purchasing an additional 158 shares during the period. 89.65% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts have commented on SRE shares. Guggenheim reduced their target price on Sempra from $95.00 to $87.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, February 26th. Morgan Stanley boosted their target price on Sempra from $85.00 to $86.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday. UBS Group cut Sempra from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and lowered their target price for the stock from $95.00 to $78.00 in a research note on Wednesday, February 26th. Argus cut Sempra from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday. Finally, Mizuho lowered their target price on Sempra from $92.00 to $76.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, February 26th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $81.58.

Insider Activity

In other Sempra news, Director Michael N. Mears bought 1,000 shares of Sempra stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 10th. The stock was bought at an average price of $67.70 per share, for a total transaction of $67,700.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director now directly owns 5,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $338,500. This trade represents a 25.00 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, Director Pablo Ferrero bought 2,600 shares of Sempra stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 17th. The stock was acquired at an average price of $70.96 per share, with a total value of $184,496.00. Following the acquisition, the director now directly owns 15,649 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,110,453.04. This represents a 19.92 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Insiders acquired 9,319 shares of company stock worth $651,676 over the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 0.24% of the company’s stock.

Sempra Stock Performance

NYSE SRE opened at $70.10 on Friday. Sempra has a 1-year low of $64.89 and a 1-year high of $95.77. The company has a market capitalization of $45.67 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.44, a PEG ratio of 2.19 and a beta of 0.76. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $78.55 and a 200 day moving average price of $83.66. 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 released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 25th. The utilities provider reported $1.50 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.47 by $0.03. The company had revenue of $3.76 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.73 billion. Sempra had a return on equity of 8.06% and a net margin of 22.63%. Sempra’s revenue was up 7.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $1.13 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts expect that Sempra will post 4.76 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Sempra Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 15th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, March 20th will be given a dividend of $0.645 per share. This represents a $2.58 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.68%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, March 20th. This is an increase from Sempra’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.62. Sempra’s dividend payout ratio is 58.37%.

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.