Hennessy Advisors Inc. Has $24.53 Million Stock Position in Sempra (NYSE:SRE)

Hennessy Advisors Inc. trimmed its position in Sempra (NYSE:SRE) by 0.3% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 279,580 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 800 shares during the quarter. Hennessy Advisors Inc.’s holdings in Sempra were worth $24,525,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of SRE. Eastern Bank acquired a new position in shares of Sempra in the 3rd quarter valued at $28,000. Hollencrest Capital Management raised its position in Sempra by 250.0% in the third quarter. Hollencrest Capital Management now owns 378 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $32,000 after purchasing an additional 270 shares in the last quarter. ST Germain D J Co. Inc. raised its position in Sempra by 225.6% in the fourth quarter. ST Germain D J Co. Inc. now owns 433 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $38,000 after purchasing an additional 300 shares in the last quarter. LRI Investments LLC lifted its stake in Sempra by 180.4% during the third quarter. LRI Investments LLC now owns 443 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $40,000 after purchasing an additional 285 shares during the period. Finally, Mather Group LLC. boosted its holdings in Sempra by 35.5% during the third quarter. Mather Group LLC. now owns 740 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $62,000 after purchasing an additional 194 shares in the last quarter. 89.65% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity at Sempra

In related news, VP Trevor I. Mihalik sold 23,713 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, November 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $93.09, for a total value of $2,207,443.17. Following the sale, the vice president now directly owns 11,190 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,041,677.10. The trade was a 67.94 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. 0.27% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages recently commented on SRE. Jefferies Financial Group began coverage on Sempra in a research note on Thursday, October 24th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $98.00 price target on the stock. Evercore ISI boosted their target price on shares of Sempra from $84.00 to $88.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 7th. Barclays increased their target price on shares of Sempra from $89.00 to $99.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, December 2nd. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price target on shares of Sempra from $87.00 to $96.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 7th. Finally, Morgan Stanley raised shares of 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 report on Friday, December 13th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating and ten have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $91.60.

Sempra Trading Up 1.9 %

SRE opened at $84.03 on Friday. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $88.74 and its two-hundred day moving average is $83.72. The firm has a market cap of $53.22 billion, a PE ratio of 18.51, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.00 and a beta of 0.78. Sempra has a twelve month low of $66.40 and a twelve month 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.

Sempra (NYSE:SRE) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, November 6th. The utilities provider reported $0.89 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate 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 analyst estimates of $3.54 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $1.08 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was down 16.7% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts anticipate that Sempra will post 4.77 EPS for the current year.

Sempra Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, January 15th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, December 5th were issued a dividend of $0.62 per share. This represents a $2.48 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.95%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, December 5th. Sempra’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 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.