DLK Investment Management LLC Raises Stock Position in Sempra (NYSE:SRE)

DLK Investment Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Sempra (NYSE:SRE) by 19.4% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 21,527 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after buying an additional 3,497 shares during the period. DLK Investment Management LLC’s holdings in Sempra were worth $1,888,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its stake in Sempra by 19.7% during the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,757,553 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $133,679,000 after purchasing an additional 289,731 shares during the period. Benjamin F. Edwards & Company Inc. increased its position in Sempra by 7.4% in the second quarter. Benjamin F. Edwards & Company Inc. now owns 15,752 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,198,000 after purchasing an additional 1,089 shares during the last quarter. Benjamin Edwards Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Sempra by 6.0% in the 2nd quarter. Benjamin Edwards Inc. now owns 3,907 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $297,000 after acquiring an additional 221 shares during the last quarter. AE Wealth Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Sempra by 41.0% in the 2nd quarter. AE Wealth Management LLC now owns 7,347 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $559,000 after purchasing an additional 2,136 shares during the period. Finally, Ensign Peak Advisors Inc lifted its position in Sempra by 21.0% in the second quarter. Ensign Peak Advisors Inc now owns 112,645 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $8,568,000 after buying an additional 19,575 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 89.65% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

SRE has been the topic of several research reports. Barclays raised their price objective on Sempra from $89.00 to $99.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, December 2nd. BMO Capital Markets increased 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. Jefferies Financial Group assumed coverage on shares of Sempra in a report on Thursday, October 24th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $98.00 price target for the company. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on Sempra from $87.00 to $96.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 7th. Finally, Evercore ISI upped their target price on Sempra from $84.00 to $88.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 7th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $91.60.

Sempra Stock Up 1.5 %

SRE stock opened at $85.24 on Monday. The company has a current ratio of 0.52, a quick ratio of 0.47 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.89. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $88.50 and a two-hundred day moving average of $83.86. Sempra has a 12 month low of $66.40 and a 12 month high of $95.77. The company has a market cap of $53.99 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.77, a PEG ratio of 2.00 and a beta of 0.78.

Sempra (NYSE:SRE) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, November 6th. The utilities provider reported $0.89 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.05 by ($0.16). The company had revenue of $2.78 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.54 billion. Sempra had a return on equity of 8.06% and a net margin of 22.63%. The firm’s revenue was down 16.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business earned $1.08 earnings per share. As a group, analysts forecast that Sempra will post 4.77 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Sempra Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, January 15th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, December 5th were given a dividend of $0.62 per share. This represents a $2.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.91%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, December 5th. Sempra’s dividend payout ratio is presently 54.63%.

Insider Activity

In related news, VP Trevor I. Mihalik sold 23,713 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, November 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $93.09, for a total transaction of $2,207,443.17. Following the completion of the transaction, 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 position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Insiders own 0.27% 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.