Longboard Asset Management LP Takes $213,000 Position in Sempra (NYSE:SRE)

Longboard Asset Management LP purchased a new position in shares of Sempra (NYSE:SRE) during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund purchased 2,427 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $213,000.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Crews Bank & Trust purchased a new stake in shares of Sempra during the 4th quarter worth about $26,000. Eastern Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Sempra in the third quarter valued at about $28,000. Hollencrest Capital Management increased its stake in Sempra by 250.0% during the 3rd quarter. Hollencrest Capital Management now owns 378 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $32,000 after buying an additional 270 shares in the last quarter. ST Germain D J Co. Inc. increased its position in shares of Sempra by 225.6% during 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. Finally, LRI Investments LLC lifted its holdings in Sempra by 180.4% in the 3rd quarter. LRI Investments LLC now owns 443 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $40,000 after purchasing an additional 285 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 89.65% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Sempra

In other Sempra news, VP Trevor I. Mihalik sold 23,713 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred 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. This represents a 67.94 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, CEO Jeffrey W. Martin sold 49,737 shares of Sempra stock in a transaction on Thursday, January 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $82.94, for a total transaction of $4,125,186.78. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $165.88. This trade represents a 100.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.27% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

SRE has been the subject of a number of research reports. Jefferies Financial Group assumed coverage on shares of Sempra in a report on Thursday, October 24th. They set a “buy” rating and a $98.00 target price for the company. BMO Capital Markets upped their target price on Sempra from $93.00 to $96.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, October 21st. Barclays reduced their price target on Sempra from $99.00 to $95.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, January 27th. Morgan Stanley upgraded Sempra from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and upped their price objective for the company from $85.00 to $98.00 in a report on Friday, December 13th. Finally, Evercore ISI lifted 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. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $91.20.

Sempra Stock Performance

Shares of Sempra stock opened at $82.67 on Tuesday. 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 stock has a market capitalization of $52.36 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.21, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.11 and a beta of 0.78. The business has a 50-day moving average of $86.60 and a 200 day moving average of $84.41. Sempra has a 12 month low of $66.40 and a 12 month high of $95.77.

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

Sempra Dividend Announcement

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