Sempra (NYSE:SRE) Shares Bought by Brooklyn Investment Group

Brooklyn Investment Group lifted its stake in shares of Sempra (NYSE:SRE) by 18.2% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 3,609 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after buying an additional 555 shares during the period. Brooklyn Investment Group’s holdings in Sempra were worth $302,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. FMR LLC increased its holdings in shares of Sempra by 9.1% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 18,978,605 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,587,181,000 after purchasing an additional 1,582,653 shares during the period. Clearbridge Investments LLC lifted its stake in Sempra by 6.9% during the 2nd quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC now owns 13,452,912 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,023,228,000 after acquiring an additional 874,133 shares during the period. Bank of Montreal Can boosted its holdings in shares of Sempra by 38.3% in the 3rd quarter. Bank of Montreal Can now owns 1,420,045 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $118,219,000 after acquiring an additional 393,277 shares during the last quarter. Swedbank AB acquired a new position in Sempra during the first quarter valued at $27,338,000. Finally, Citigroup Inc. boosted its position in Sempra by 27.3% in the 3rd quarter. Citigroup Inc. now owns 1,622,786 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $135,714,000 after purchasing an additional 347,625 shares in the last quarter. 89.65% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on SRE shares. Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on Sempra from $87.00 to $96.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 7th. BMO Capital Markets lifted their target price on shares of Sempra from $93.00 to $96.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, October 21st. Jefferies Financial Group started coverage on shares of Sempra in a research report on Thursday, October 24th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $98.00 target price for the company. Morgan Stanley upped their price objective on shares of Sempra from $80.00 to $85.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, September 25th. Finally, Evercore ISI raised their target price on shares of Sempra from $84.00 to $88.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 7th. One equities research 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. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $89.00.

Insider Transactions at Sempra

In other news, VP Trevor I. Mihalik sold 23,713 shares of Sempra stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, November 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $93.09, for a total value of $2,207,443.17. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now owns 11,190 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,041,677.10. This trade represents a 67.94 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 0.27% of the company’s stock.

Sempra Trading Down 1.6 %

Shares of Sempra stock opened at $93.28 on Wednesday. Sempra has a fifty-two week low of $66.40 and a fifty-two week high of $95.77. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.89, a quick ratio of 0.47 and a current ratio of 0.52. The firm has a market capitalization of $59.08 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.55, a PEG ratio of 2.60 and a beta of 0.75. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $86.07 and a 200 day moving average of $80.97.

Sempra (NYSE:SRE) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, November 6th. The utilities provider reported $0.89 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.05 by ($0.16). Sempra had a return on equity of 8.06% and a net margin of 22.63%. The business had revenue of $2.78 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.54 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $1.08 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 16.7% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts predict that Sempra will post 4.77 earnings per share for the current year.

Sempra Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, January 15th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, December 5th will be paid a $0.62 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, December 5th. This represents a $2.48 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.66%. Sempra’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 54.63%.

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.