Prudent Man Advisors LLC Sells 990 Shares of Sempra (NYSE:SRE)

Prudent Man Advisors LLC trimmed its stake in Sempra (NYSE:SRE) by 9.3% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 9,685 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 990 shares during the quarter. Prudent Man Advisors LLC’s holdings in Sempra were worth $850,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Private Advisor Group LLC increased its position in shares of Sempra by 1.6% during the 3rd quarter. Private Advisor Group LLC now owns 8,742 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $731,000 after purchasing an additional 139 shares during the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Sempra by 8,093.4% during the 3rd quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 52,520 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $4,392,000 after purchasing an additional 51,879 shares during the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. boosted its position in shares of Sempra by 17.8% during the 3rd quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 17,804 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,489,000 after acquiring an additional 2,693 shares during the last quarter. abrdn plc lifted its position in Sempra by 7.2% during the third quarter. abrdn plc now owns 303,786 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $25,280,000 after purchasing an additional 20,423 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Pinnacle Associates Ltd. bought a new stake in Sempra in the third quarter worth $248,000. 89.65% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms have recently weighed in on SRE. Evercore ISI lifted their price target on shares of Sempra from $84.00 to $88.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 7th. The Goldman Sachs Group lowered Sempra from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and decreased their price objective for the company from $99.00 to $76.00 in a report on Wednesday. UBS Group cut shares of Sempra from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and decreased their price target for the stock from $95.00 to $78.00 in a report on Wednesday. Mizuho dropped their target price on Sempra from $92.00 to $76.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price objective on Sempra from $96.00 to $88.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $84.54.

Insider Activity

In other Sempra news, SVP Alexander Lisa Larroque sold 2,755 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $81.93, for a total value of $225,717.15. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 13,905 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,139,236.65. This represents a 16.54 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO Jeffrey W. Martin sold 49,737 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, January 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $82.94, for a total value of $4,125,186.78. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 2 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $165.88. This represents a 100.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 0.24% of the company’s stock.

Sempra Price Performance

SRE stock opened at $71.50 on Friday. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $83.13 and a 200-day moving average of $84.70. The company has a market cap of $45.29 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.75, a PEG ratio of 2.19 and a beta of 0.78. 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.

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

Sempra Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 15th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, March 20th will be issued a $0.645 dividend. This represents a $2.58 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.61%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, March 20th. This is an increase from Sempra’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.62. Sempra’s dividend payout ratio is 56.11%.

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.