7,538 Shares in Sempra (NYSE:SRE) Bought by Petra Financial Advisors Inc.

Petra Financial Advisors Inc. purchased a new stake in Sempra (NYSE:SRE) in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund purchased 7,538 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $630,000.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Brookstone Capital Management boosted its position in shares of Sempra by 7.8% during the 1st quarter. Brookstone Capital Management now owns 3,038 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $218,000 after acquiring an additional 220 shares in the last quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Holdings Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Sempra by 0.8% during the 1st quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Holdings Inc. now owns 1,530,330 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $109,924,000 after buying an additional 12,197 shares in the last quarter. Norden Group LLC bought a new stake in shares of Sempra during the 1st quarter worth $1,269,000. FORVIS Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its stake in Sempra by 1.7% in the first quarter. FORVIS Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 10,185 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $732,000 after buying an additional 172 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Van ECK Associates Corp raised its stake in Sempra by 3.7% during the first quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 156,750 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $11,260,000 after acquiring an additional 5,544 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 89.65% of the company’s stock.

Sempra Trading Up 0.5 %

Shares of SRE traded up $0.39 during mid-day trading on Thursday, reaching $83.94. 119,361 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,838,952. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $83.09 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $78.47. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.84, a quick ratio of 0.41 and a current ratio of 0.46. The stock has a market capitalization of $53.15 billion, a PE ratio of 17.85, a PEG ratio of 2.69 and a beta of 0.75. Sempra has a 52 week low of $66.40 and a 52 week high of $86.57.

Sempra (NYSE:SRE) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, August 6th. The utilities provider reported $0.89 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.92 by ($0.03). The firm had revenue of $3.01 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.46 billion. Sempra had a return on equity of 8.58% and a net margin of 22.31%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 9.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $0.94 EPS. On average, analysts predict that Sempra will post 4.78 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Sempra Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, October 15th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, September 26th were given a dividend of $0.62 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, September 26th. This represents a $2.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.95%. Sempra’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 52.99%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms have recently weighed in on SRE. BMO Capital Markets raised their price target on shares of Sempra from $93.00 to $96.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, October 21st. Evercore ISI boosted their target price on shares of Sempra from $83.00 to $84.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 7th. Morgan Stanley increased their price target on Sempra from $80.00 to $85.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, September 25th. Bank of America started coverage on Sempra in a report on Thursday, September 12th. They set a “buy” rating and a $94.00 price objective on the stock. Finally, Barclays upped their target price on Sempra from $87.00 to $89.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 1st. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has assigned a hold rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Sempra presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $87.55.

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.