Cerity Partners LLC Grows Stake in Sempra (NYSE:SRE)

Cerity Partners LLC boosted its position in shares of Sempra (NYSE:SRE) by 8.7% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 117,249 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 9,342 shares during the quarter. Cerity Partners LLC’s holdings in Sempra were worth $9,808,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. B. Riley Wealth Advisors Inc. grew its stake in Sempra by 36.2% in the 1st quarter. B. Riley Wealth Advisors Inc. now owns 13,766 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $945,000 after acquiring an additional 3,658 shares during the last quarter. Coppell Advisory Solutions Corp. purchased a new position in shares of Sempra during the 1st quarter worth approximately $621,000. Beacon Capital Management LLC raised its position in shares of Sempra by 22.7% during the 1st quarter. Beacon Capital Management LLC now owns 1,104 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $79,000 after purchasing an additional 204 shares during the last quarter. iA Global Asset Management Inc. lifted its stake in Sempra by 30.4% in the 1st quarter. iA Global Asset Management Inc. now owns 6,984 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $502,000 after buying an additional 1,629 shares in the last quarter. Finally, New Covenant Trust Company N.A. acquired a new stake in Sempra during the 1st quarter valued at $199,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 89.65% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In other Sempra news, VP Trevor I. Mihalik sold 23,713 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated 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 represents a 67.94 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Insiders own 0.24% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have recently weighed in on SRE shares. Barclays boosted their price target on Sempra from $87.00 to $89.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 1st. Morgan Stanley raised their price target on shares of Sempra from $80.00 to $85.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, September 25th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on shares of Sempra from $87.00 to $96.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 7th. BMO Capital Markets increased their price target on shares of Sempra from $93.00 to $96.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, October 21st. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group began coverage on shares of Sempra in a research note on Thursday, October 24th. They set a “buy” rating and a $98.00 price objective for the company. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has given a hold rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $89.00.

Sempra Trading Down 1.6 %

Sempra stock opened at $93.28 on Wednesday. Sempra has a 52 week low of $66.40 and a 52 week high of $95.77. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.89, a quick ratio of 0.47 and a current ratio of 0.52. The firm has a market capitalization of $59.08 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.55, a P/E/G ratio of 2.59 and a beta of 0.75. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $86.07 and a 200 day moving average price of $80.97.

Sempra (NYSE:SRE) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, November 6th. The utilities provider reported $0.89 earnings per share 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 net margin of 22.63% and a return on equity of 8.06%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 16.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $1.08 EPS. Research analysts forecast that Sempra will post 4.77 EPS for the current year.

Sempra Dividend Announcement

The business 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. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, December 5th. This represents a $2.48 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.66%. Sempra’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 54.63%.

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.