Thurston Springer Miller Herd & Titak Inc. Grows Stock Holdings in Sempra (NYSE:SRE)

Thurston Springer Miller Herd & Titak Inc. increased its stake in shares of Sempra (NYSE:SRE) by 24.9% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 8,038 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after buying an additional 1,603 shares during the quarter. Thurston Springer Miller Herd & Titak Inc.’s holdings in Sempra were worth $574,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted 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 valued at $286,695,000 after purchasing an additional 278,183 shares in the last quarter. Union Bancaire Privee UBP SA purchased a new stake in Sempra in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $29,880,000. Spire Wealth Management boosted its holdings in Sempra by 43.5% in the 4th quarter. Spire Wealth Management now owns 709 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $62,000 after purchasing an additional 215 shares in the last quarter. abrdn plc boosted its holdings in Sempra by 8.2% in the 4th quarter. abrdn plc now owns 328,840 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $28,716,000 after purchasing an additional 25,054 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Mather Group LLC. boosted its holdings in Sempra by 39.1% in the 4th quarter. Mather Group LLC. now owns 1,029 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $90,000 after purchasing an additional 289 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 89.65% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

SRE has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. Argus lowered Sempra from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 18th. Barclays lowered Sempra from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and lowered their price objective for the company from $95.00 to $72.00 in a report on Thursday, February 27th. Citigroup decreased their price target on Sempra from $93.00 to $70.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, April 9th. Guggenheim decreased 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 lowered 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 research note on Wednesday, February 26th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Sempra currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $80.75.

Sempra Trading Down 0.8%

Shares of Sempra stock opened at $75.81 on Friday. 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 1 year low of $61.90 and a 1 year high of $95.77. The company has a market capitalization of $49.42 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.70, a P/E/G ratio of 2.19 and a beta of 0.63. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $73.63 and a 200 day moving average price of $79.22.

Sempra (NYSE:SRE) last issued 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. 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 the consensus estimate of $3.90 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.34 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 4.5% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Sempra will post 4.76 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Sempra Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, July 15th. Investors of record on Thursday, June 26th will be given a dividend of $0.645 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, June 26th. This represents a $2.58 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.40%. Sempra’s dividend payout ratio is currently 56.70%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Sempra news, insider Diana L. Day sold 8,015 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $74.26, for a total value of $595,193.90. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 16,969 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,260,117.94. The trade was a 32.08% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, Director James C. Yardley purchased 5,019 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 12th. The stock was acquired at an average price of $69.74 per share, with a total value of $350,025.06. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director now directly owns 5,019 shares in the company, valued at $350,025.06. The trade was a ∞ increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Insiders purchased 8,619 shares of company stock worth $602,221 in the last ninety days. Insiders own 0.27% of the company’s stock.

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.