Geneos Wealth Management Inc. Boosts Stock Position in Sempra (NYSE:SRE)

Geneos Wealth Management Inc. grew its position in Sempra (NYSE:SRE) by 633.4% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 29,917 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after buying an additional 25,838 shares during the period. Geneos Wealth Management Inc.’s holdings in Sempra were worth $2,624,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of SRE. Impact Partnership Wealth LLC acquired a new stake in Sempra in the fourth quarter worth about $202,000. Spinnaker Investment Group LLC acquired a new stake in Sempra in the 4th quarter worth approximately $1,669,000. Mutual Advisors LLC boosted its stake in Sempra by 1.7% in the 4th quarter. Mutual Advisors LLC now owns 21,776 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,829,000 after purchasing an additional 364 shares in the last quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC grew its position in Sempra by 4.8% during the 4th quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC now owns 290,291 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $25,464,000 after purchasing an additional 13,343 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Daymark Wealth Partners LLC increased its stake in Sempra by 3.8% during the 4th quarter. Daymark Wealth Partners LLC now owns 5,822 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $511,000 after purchasing an additional 212 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 89.65% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have recently weighed in on SRE shares. BMO Capital Markets boosted their price objective on shares of Sempra from $93.00 to $96.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, October 21st. Barclays boosted their price target on Sempra from $89.00 to $99.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, December 2nd. Morgan Stanley upgraded Sempra from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and raised their price objective for the stock from $85.00 to $98.00 in a research note on Friday, December 13th. Evercore ISI upped their target price on Sempra from $84.00 to $88.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 7th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group initiated coverage on shares of Sempra in a report on Thursday, October 24th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $98.00 price target on the stock. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating and ten have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $91.60.

Sempra Price Performance

Shares of NYSE SRE opened at $82.78 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. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $87.72 and its 200-day simple moving average is $84.10. Sempra has a 12 month low of $66.40 and a 12 month high of $95.77. The stock has a market capitalization of $52.43 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.23, a PEG ratio of 2.10 and a beta of 0.78.

Sempra (NYSE:SRE) last issued its quarterly earnings data 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 firm had revenue of $2.78 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.54 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $1.08 EPS. The company’s revenue was down 16.7% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts expect that Sempra will post 4.77 EPS for the current year.

Sempra Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, January 15th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, December 5th were paid a dividend of $0.62 per share. This represents a $2.48 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.00%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, December 5th. Sempra’s payout ratio is 54.63%.

Insider Activity

In other news, VP Trevor I. Mihalik sold 23,713 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 transaction, the vice president now owns 11,190 shares in the company, valued at $1,041,677.10. This trade represents a 67.94 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Insiders own 0.24% of the company’s stock.

Sempra 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.