NorthRock Partners LLC Acquires Shares of 6,715 Sempra (NYSE:SRE)

NorthRock Partners LLC bought a new position in shares of Sempra (NYSE:SRE) during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor bought 6,715 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $589,000.

Several other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of SRE. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. grew its holdings in Sempra by 633.4% in 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 lifted its position in shares of Sempra by 52.6% during the 4th quarter. L & S Advisors Inc now owns 41,601 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $3,649,000 after buying an additional 14,338 shares in the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. grew its stake in Sempra by 8.8% in the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 3,428,132 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $286,695,000 after acquiring an additional 278,183 shares during the period. Empower Advisory Group LLC increased its holdings 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 worth $93,956,000 after acquiring an additional 26,821 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Principal Securities Inc. raised its position in Sempra by 11.7% during the fourth quarter. Principal Securities Inc. now owns 9,479 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $831,000 after acquiring an additional 990 shares during the period. 89.65% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

SRE has been the topic of several research analyst reports. BMO Capital Markets lifted their target price on shares of Sempra from $78.00 to $81.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price objective on Sempra from $88.00 to $85.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, March 26th. Barclays cut Sempra from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and reduced their target price for the company from $95.00 to $72.00 in a report on Thursday, February 27th. Guggenheim lowered 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. Finally, UBS Group cut Sempra from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and dropped their price target for the stock from $95.00 to $78.00 in a research report on Wednesday, February 26th. Six 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.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $80.77.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director James C. Yardley acquired 5,019 shares of Sempra stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 12th. The shares were purchased at an average cost of $69.74 per share, for a total transaction of $350,025.06. Following the acquisition, the director now owns 5,019 shares in the company, valued at approximately $350,025.06. This represents a ∞ increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Director Michael N. Mears bought 1,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, March 10th. The stock was bought at an average cost of $67.70 per share, for a total transaction of $67,700.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 5,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $338,500. The trade was a 25.00% increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders acquired 9,319 shares of company stock worth $651,676. Company insiders own 0.27% of the company’s stock.

Sempra Stock Up 2.1%

Shares of SRE opened at $76.46 on Friday. Sempra has a 52-week low of $61.90 and a 52-week high of $95.77. The company has a quick ratio of 0.47, a current ratio of 0.52 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.89. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $71.34 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $80.27. The company has a market capitalization of $49.85 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 released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 8th. The utilities provider reported $1.44 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.32 by $0.12. The firm had revenue of $3.80 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.90 billion. Sempra had a net margin of 22.63% and a return on equity of 8.06%. Sempra’s revenue was up 4.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business earned $1.34 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Sempra will post 4.76 EPS for the current year.

Sempra Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, July 15th. Investors of record on Thursday, June 26th will be issued a $0.645 dividend. This represents a $2.58 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.37%. Sempra’s dividend payout ratio is presently 56.70%.

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.