Harbor Investment Advisory LLC Purchases 559 Shares of Sempra (NYSE:SRE)

Harbor Investment Advisory LLC raised its position in Sempra (NYSE:SRE) by 188.9% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 855 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 559 shares during the quarter. Harbor Investment Advisory LLC’s holdings in Sempra were worth $61,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Prudent Man Investment Management Inc. bought a new position in Sempra in the fourth quarter valued at about $26,000. Synergy Investment Management LLC bought a new position in Sempra in the fourth quarter valued at about $29,000. TCTC Holdings LLC increased its stake in shares of Sempra by 265.2% in the fourth quarter. TCTC Holdings LLC now owns 336 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $29,000 after buying an additional 244 shares during the period. Meeder Asset Management Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Sempra in the fourth quarter valued at about $29,000. Finally, Mattson Financial Services LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Sempra in the fourth quarter valued at about $30,000. 89.65% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts have recently weighed in on SRE shares. Guggenheim decreased their price target on Sempra from $95.00 to $87.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, February 26th. BMO Capital Markets increased their price target on Sempra from $78.00 to $81.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, May 12th. Morgan Stanley set a $87.00 price target on Sempra and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, May 22nd. Argus cut Sempra from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 18th. Finally, Mizuho decreased their target price on Sempra from $92.00 to $76.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, February 26th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $80.75.

Sempra Trading Down 1.7%

Shares of Sempra stock opened at $76.45 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.89, a quick ratio of 0.47 and a current ratio of 0.52. Sempra has a 52 week low of $61.90 and a 52 week high of $95.77. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $73.54 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $79.34. The stock has a market capitalization of $49.84 billion, a PE ratio of 16.84, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.19 and a beta of 0.63.

Sempra (NYSE:SRE) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 8th. The utilities provider reported $1.44 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.32 by $0.12. Sempra had a return on equity of 8.06% and a net margin of 22.63%. The firm had revenue of $3.80 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.90 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $1.34 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.5% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Sempra will post 4.76 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Sempra Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, July 15th. Investors of record on Thursday, June 26th will be issued a dividend of $0.645 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, June 26th. This represents a $2.58 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.37%. Sempra’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 56.70%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Sempra news, EVP Justin Christopher Bird sold 4,817 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, April 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $71.23, for a total value of $343,114.91. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 19,778 shares in the company, valued at $1,408,786.94. The trade was a 19.59% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, insider Diana L. Day sold 8,015 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $74.26, for a total value of $595,193.90. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 16,969 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,260,117.94. The trade was a 32.08% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have acquired 8,619 shares of company stock worth $602,221. 0.27% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

About Sempra

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.