Thrivent Financial for Lutherans Buys 2,010 Shares of Sempra (NYSE:SRE)

Thrivent Financial for Lutherans increased its position in shares of Sempra (NYSE:SRE) by 6.8% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 31,674 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 2,010 shares during the quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans’ holdings in Sempra were worth $2,649,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Natixis Advisors LLC increased its stake in Sempra by 35.7% during the 3rd quarter. Natixis Advisors LLC now owns 594,683 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $49,733,000 after purchasing an additional 156,397 shares in the last quarter. Empowered Funds LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Sempra by 9.7% in the third quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 10,744 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $899,000 after buying an additional 951 shares during the period. Empirical Finance LLC increased its position in shares of Sempra by 2.2% during the third quarter. Empirical Finance LLC now owns 21,519 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,800,000 after acquiring an additional 467 shares in the last quarter. CIBC Asset Management Inc raised its holdings in shares of Sempra by 7.2% during the third quarter. CIBC Asset Management Inc now owns 107,800 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $9,015,000 after acquiring an additional 7,198 shares during the period. Finally, ING Groep NV acquired a new position in Sempra in the 3rd quarter worth $13,173,000. 89.65% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts have issued reports on SRE shares. BMO Capital Markets lifted their price target on Sempra from $93.00 to $96.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, October 21st. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their target price on Sempra from $87.00 to $96.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 7th. Bank of America started coverage on Sempra in a research report on Thursday, September 12th. They set a “buy” rating and a $94.00 price target for the company. Evercore ISI lifted their price objective on shares of Sempra from $84.00 to $88.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, November 7th. Finally, Morgan Stanley increased their target price on shares of Sempra from $80.00 to $85.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday, September 25th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has given a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $89.00.

Sempra Stock Performance

Shares of SRE stock opened at $93.28 on Wednesday. The stock has a market cap of $59.08 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.55, a P/E/G ratio of 2.59 and a beta of 0.75. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $86.07 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $80.97. Sempra has a one year low of $66.40 and a one year high of $95.77. 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 posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, November 6th. The utilities provider reported $0.89 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.05 by ($0.16). The business had revenue of $2.78 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.54 billion. Sempra had a return on equity of 8.06% and a net margin of 22.63%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 16.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $1.08 EPS. As a group, equities analysts predict that Sempra will post 4.77 EPS for the current year.

Sempra Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, January 15th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, December 5th will be issued a dividend of $0.62 per share. This represents a $2.48 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.66%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, December 5th. Sempra’s dividend payout ratio is 54.63%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Sempra news, VP Trevor I. Mihalik sold 23,713 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, November 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $93.09, for a total transaction of $2,207,443.17. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now directly owns 11,190 shares in the company, valued at $1,041,677.10. This trade represents a 67.94 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Company insiders own 0.24% of the company’s stock.

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.