Farther Finance Advisors LLC Sells 3,521 Shares of Sempra (NYSE:SRE)

Farther Finance Advisors LLC lowered its position in Sempra (NYSE:SRE) by 52.8% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 3,145 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 3,521 shares during the period. Farther Finance Advisors LLC’s holdings in Sempra were worth $276,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Lindbrook Capital LLC raised its position in shares of Sempra by 5.4% in the 4th quarter. Lindbrook Capital LLC now owns 2,410 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $211,000 after acquiring an additional 124 shares in the last quarter. Pinnacle West Asset Management Inc. raised its position in shares of Sempra by 5.1% in the 4th quarter. Pinnacle West Asset Management Inc. now owns 2,585 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $227,000 after acquiring an additional 125 shares in the last quarter. Avantax Planning Partners Inc. raised its position in shares of Sempra by 2.0% in the 4th quarter. Avantax Planning Partners Inc. now owns 7,423 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $651,000 after acquiring an additional 147 shares in the last quarter. LVM Capital Management Ltd. MI raised its position in shares of Sempra by 2.4% in the 4th quarter. LVM Capital Management Ltd. MI now owns 6,677 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $586,000 after acquiring an additional 155 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Kingsview Wealth Management LLC raised its position in shares of Sempra by 0.3% in the 3rd quarter. Kingsview Wealth Management LLC now owns 46,518 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $3,890,000 after acquiring an additional 158 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 89.65% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Pablo Ferrero purchased 2,600 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 17th. The shares were purchased at an average cost of $70.96 per share, with a total value of $184,496.00. Following the acquisition, the director now directly owns 15,649 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,110,453.04. This represents a 19.92 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, Director Cynthia J. Warner purchased 700 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 6th. The shares were purchased at an average cost of $70.65 per share, for a total transaction of $49,455.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director now directly owns 8,759 shares in the company, valued at approximately $618,823.35. This trade represents a 8.69 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Insiders have bought 9,319 shares of company stock valued at $651,676 in the last ninety days. 0.24% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts recently weighed in on the company. Mizuho cut their price target on Sempra from $92.00 to $76.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, February 26th. Guggenheim cut their price target on Sempra from $95.00 to $87.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, February 26th. Wells Fargo & Company cut their price target on Sempra from $96.00 to $88.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, February 26th. The Goldman Sachs Group downgraded Sempra from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and cut their price target for the stock from $99.00 to $76.00 in a research note on Wednesday, February 26th. Finally, Morgan Stanley cut their price target on Sempra from $100.00 to $85.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, February 26th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $81.50.

Sempra Stock Performance

Shares of SRE opened at $70.74 on Wednesday. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $79.04 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $83.84. The company has a current ratio of 0.52, a quick ratio of 0.47 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.89. Sempra has a 12 month low of $64.89 and a 12 month high of $95.77. The company has a market cap of $46.09 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.58, a P/E/G ratio of 2.19 and a beta of 0.76.

Sempra (NYSE:SRE) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 25th. The utilities provider reported $1.50 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.47 by $0.03. The firm had revenue of $3.76 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.73 billion. Sempra had a return on equity of 8.06% and a net margin of 22.63%. The company’s revenue was up 7.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $1.13 EPS. Research analysts anticipate that Sempra will post 4.76 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Sempra Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 15th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, March 20th will be issued a dividend of $0.645 per share. This represents a $2.58 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.65%. This is a boost from Sempra’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.62. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, March 20th. Sempra’s dividend payout ratio is presently 58.37%.

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.