Mutual Advisors LLC Purchases 364 Shares of Sempra (NYSE:SRE)

Mutual Advisors LLC lifted its position in Sempra (NYSE:SRE) by 1.7% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 21,776 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 364 shares during the quarter. Mutual Advisors LLC’s holdings in Sempra were worth $1,829,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Unigestion Holding SA bought a new stake in shares of Sempra in the 3rd quarter worth about $33,023,000. JPMorgan Chase & Co. grew its holdings in shares of Sempra by 8.8% in the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 3,428,132 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $286,695,000 after purchasing an additional 278,183 shares during the last quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Sempra by 1.9% in the 3rd quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 357,107 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $29,865,000 after purchasing an additional 6,709 shares during the last quarter. Kovitz Investment Group Partners LLC bought a new stake in shares of Sempra in the 3rd quarter worth about $675,000. Finally, Sanctuary Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of Sempra by 14.4% in the 3rd quarter. Sanctuary Advisors LLC now owns 190,714 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $15,949,000 after purchasing an additional 23,970 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 89.65% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In other news, VP Trevor I. Mihalik sold 23,713 shares of Sempra 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 transaction, the vice president now owns 11,190 shares in the company, valued at $1,041,677.10. The trade was a 67.94 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. 0.24% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Sempra Price Performance

Sempra stock opened at $82.78 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $52.43 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.23, a PEG ratio of 2.10 and a beta of 0.78. Sempra has a 1 year low of $66.40 and a 1 year high of $95.77. The business has a 50-day moving average of $87.91 and a 200-day moving average of $84.05. 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 (NYSE:SRE) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, November 6th. The utilities provider reported $0.89 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.05 by ($0.16). The company had revenue of $2.78 billion for 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%. Sempra’s quarterly revenue was down 16.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $1.08 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Sempra will post 4.77 EPS for the current year.

Sempra Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, January 15th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, December 5th were issued a dividend of $0.62 per share. This represents a $2.48 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.00%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, December 5th. Sempra’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 54.63%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have commented on SRE. Evercore ISI increased their price objective on shares of Sempra from $84.00 to $88.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, November 7th. Barclays lifted their target price on Sempra from $89.00 to $99.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, December 2nd. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on Sempra from $87.00 to $96.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 7th. Jefferies Financial Group began coverage on Sempra in a research report on Thursday, October 24th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $98.00 price objective for the company. Finally, BMO Capital Markets lifted their price objective on Sempra from $93.00 to $96.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, October 21st. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Sempra has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $91.60.

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.