Mraz Amerine & Associates Inc. Trims Stock Holdings in Sempra (NYSE:SRE)

Mraz Amerine & Associates Inc. lowered its stake in shares of Sempra (NYSE:SRE) by 32.7% during the third quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 3,089 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 1,502 shares during the period. Mraz Amerine & Associates Inc.’s holdings in Sempra were worth $258,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of SRE. Eastern Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Sempra in the third quarter valued at about $28,000. Family Firm Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Sempra in the second quarter worth $30,000. Ashton Thomas Private Wealth LLC purchased a new position in Sempra in the 2nd quarter valued at about $33,000. Financial Connections Group Inc. acquired a new stake in Sempra during the second quarter worth approximately $34,000. Finally, SouthState Corp boosted its holdings in shares of Sempra by 900.0% during the second quarter. SouthState Corp now owns 470 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $36,000 after purchasing an additional 423 shares during the last quarter. 89.65% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Jefferies Financial Group started coverage on Sempra in a research note on Thursday. They issued a “buy” rating and a $98.00 price objective on the stock. 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. Evercore ISI lifted their price target on Sempra from $83.00 to $84.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 7th. Morgan Stanley lifted their price target on shares of Sempra from $80.00 to $85.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday, September 25th. Finally, Barclays raised their target price on Sempra from $87.00 to $89.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 1st. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has issued a hold rating and ten have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Sempra presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $87.55.

Sempra Stock Down 0.2 %

Sempra stock opened at $85.77 on Friday. The company’s 50-day moving average is $82.69 and its 200-day moving average is $77.97. The firm has a market capitalization of $54.31 billion, a PE ratio of 18.33, a P/E/G ratio of 2.70 and a beta of 0.75. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.84, a current ratio of 0.46 and a quick ratio of 0.41. Sempra has a fifty-two week low of $66.40 and a fifty-two week high of $86.57.

Sempra (NYSE:SRE) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, August 6th. The utilities provider reported $0.89 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.92 by ($0.03). The business had revenue of $3.01 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.46 billion. Sempra had a return on equity of 8.58% and a net margin of 22.31%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 9.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $0.94 EPS. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Sempra will post 4.79 earnings per share for the current year.

Sempra Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, October 15th. Investors of record on Thursday, September 26th were paid a $0.62 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, September 26th. This represents a $2.48 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.89%. Sempra’s dividend payout ratio is 52.99%.

About Sempra

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.