Cary Street Partners Financial LLC Takes Position in Sempra (NYSE:SRE)

Cary Street Partners Financial LLC bought a new stake in shares of Sempra (NYSE:SRE) during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm bought 641 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $56,000.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. raised its stake in shares of Sempra by 633.4% during the fourth quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. now owns 29,917 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $2,624,000 after purchasing an additional 25,838 shares during the period. L & S Advisors Inc increased its stake in Sempra by 52.6% during the 4th quarter. L & S Advisors Inc now owns 41,601 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $3,649,000 after buying an additional 14,338 shares during the period. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted its holdings in 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 buying an additional 278,183 shares in the last quarter. Empower Advisory Group LLC boosted its position in Sempra by 2.6% in the 4th quarter. Empower Advisory Group LLC now owns 1,071,091 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $93,956,000 after buying an additional 26,821 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Principal Securities Inc. grew its stake in shares of Sempra by 11.7% during the fourth quarter. Principal Securities Inc. now owns 9,479 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $831,000 after acquiring an additional 990 shares in the last quarter. 89.65% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Sempra Stock Performance

Sempra stock opened at $75.40 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.89, a current ratio of 0.52 and a quick ratio of 0.47. Sempra has a 12 month low of $61.90 and a 12 month high of $95.77. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $70.90 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $80.47. The company has a market cap of $49.15 billion, a PE ratio of 16.61, a P/E/G ratio of 2.19 and a beta of 0.63.

Sempra (NYSE:SRE) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 8th. The utilities provider reported $1.44 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.32 by $0.12. Sempra had a net margin of 22.63% and a return on equity of 8.06%. The business had revenue of $3.80 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.90 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $1.34 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 4.5% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts expect that Sempra will post 4.76 earnings per share for the current year.

Sempra Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, April 15th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, March 20th were issued a dividend of $0.645 per share. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, March 20th. This is a positive change from Sempra’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.62. This represents a $2.58 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.42%. Sempra’s dividend payout ratio is 56.70%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms recently commented on SRE. 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. Barclays lowered Sempra from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and cut their target price for the company from $95.00 to $72.00 in a research report on Thursday, February 27th. BMO Capital Markets decreased their price target on shares of Sempra from $92.00 to $78.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, March 4th. Morgan Stanley set a $89.00 price target on shares of Sempra and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 23rd. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group reduced their price objective on shares of Sempra from $77.00 to $75.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, April 15th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Sempra has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $80.54.

Insider Activity

In other 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 transaction of $225,717.15. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 13,905 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,139,236.65. This represents a 16.54% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Director Cynthia J. Warner acquired 700 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 6th. The stock was purchased at an average price of $70.65 per share, for a total transaction of $49,455.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 8,759 shares in the company, valued at $618,823.35. The trade was a 8.69% increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders purchased 9,319 shares of company stock valued at $651,676. 0.27% of the stock is currently owned by 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.