Aspiriant LLC Makes New $222,000 Investment in Sempra (NYSE:SRE)

Aspiriant LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Sempra (NYSE:SRE) during the third quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund acquired 2,656 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $222,000.

Other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Clearbridge Investments LLC grew its stake in Sempra by 6.9% in 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. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale increased its holdings in Sempra by 2.1% in the second quarter. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale now owns 2,404,573 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $182,158,000 after buying an additional 48,592 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its holdings in Sempra by 19.7% in the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,757,553 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $133,679,000 after buying an additional 289,731 shares during the last quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC raised its position in Sempra by 1.6% during the second quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC now owns 1,659,618 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $126,246,000 after acquiring an additional 26,862 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Zimmer Partners LP lifted its stake in Sempra by 96.9% in the first quarter. Zimmer Partners LP now owns 1,636,202 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $117,528,000 after acquiring an additional 805,084 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 89.65% of the company’s stock.

Sempra Trading Up 0.5 %

Shares of SRE stock opened at $85.96 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $54.43 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.37, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.64 and a beta of 0.75. Sempra has a 1 year low of $66.40 and a 1 year high of $86.13. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $82.30 and its 200 day simple moving average is $77.62. The company has a current ratio of 0.46, a quick ratio of 0.41 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.84.

Sempra (NYSE:SRE) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, August 6th. The utilities provider reported $0.89 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.92 by ($0.03). Sempra had a return on equity of 8.58% and a net margin of 22.31%. The company had revenue of $3.01 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.46 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.94 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 9.7% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Sempra will post 4.79 EPS for the current year.

Sempra Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, October 15th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, September 26th were issued a dividend of $0.62 per share. This represents a $2.48 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.89%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, September 26th. Sempra’s payout ratio is presently 52.99%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms have recently weighed in on SRE. Morgan Stanley raised their price target on shares of Sempra from $80.00 to $85.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday, September 25th. Evercore ISI boosted their price target on Sempra from $83.00 to $84.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 7th. Bank of America began coverage on Sempra in a report on Thursday, September 12th. They set a “buy” rating and a $94.00 price objective on the stock. Barclays boosted their target price on Sempra from $87.00 to $89.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 1st. Finally, BMO Capital Markets increased their price target on Sempra from $90.00 to $93.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, September 12th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has issued a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $86.20.

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.