Eastern Bank Makes New $28,000 Investment in Sempra (NYSE:SRE)

Eastern Bank acquired a new position in shares of Sempra (NYSE:SRE) in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm acquired 334 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $28,000.

Several other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of SRE. GSA Capital Partners LLP acquired a new stake in shares of Sempra in the first quarter valued at approximately $815,000. Magnetar Financial LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Sempra in the first quarter valued at approximately $2,293,000. Forsta AP Fonden raised its position in shares of Sempra by 13.7% in the first quarter. Forsta AP Fonden now owns 117,200 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $8,418,000 after buying an additional 14,100 shares in the last quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC raised its position in shares of Sempra by 249.9% in the first quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 155,854 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $11,195,000 after buying an additional 111,314 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Dai ichi Life Insurance Company Ltd raised its position in shares of Sempra by 319.5% in the second quarter. Dai ichi Life Insurance Company Ltd now owns 196,954 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $14,980,000 after buying an additional 150,000 shares in the last quarter. 89.65% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Sempra Stock Performance

NYSE SRE opened at $84.38 on Friday. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $82.90 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $78.12. The stock has a market cap of $53.43 billion, a PE ratio of 18.03, a PEG ratio of 2.70 and a beta of 0.75. Sempra has a fifty-two week low of $66.40 and a fifty-two week high of $86.57. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.84, a quick ratio of 0.41 and a current ratio of 0.46.

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

Sempra Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, October 15th. Investors of record on Thursday, September 26th were paid a $0.62 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, September 26th. This represents a $2.48 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.94%. Sempra’s dividend payout ratio is 52.99%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

SRE has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Morgan Stanley lifted their price target on shares of Sempra from $80.00 to $85.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, September 25th. Barclays boosted their price objective on shares of Sempra from $87.00 to $89.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 1st. Bank of America began coverage on shares of Sempra in a research report on Thursday, September 12th. They set a “buy” rating and a $94.00 price objective for the company. Jefferies Financial Group began coverage on shares of Sempra in a research report on Thursday. They set a “buy” rating and a $98.00 price objective for the company. Finally, Evercore ISI boosted their price objective on shares of Sempra from $83.00 to $84.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 7th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has assigned a hold rating and ten have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $87.55.

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.