Phillips Financial Management LLC Invests $200,000 in Sempra (NYSE:SRE)

Phillips Financial Management LLC bought a new stake in Sempra (NYSE:SRE) during the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor bought 2,395 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $200,000.

Other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Magnetar Financial LLC purchased a new position in shares of Sempra in the 1st quarter valued at about $2,293,000. Dai ichi Life Insurance Company Ltd raised its holdings in Sempra by 319.5% during the second quarter. Dai ichi Life Insurance Company Ltd now owns 196,954 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $14,980,000 after purchasing an additional 150,000 shares in the last quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC lifted its position in shares of Sempra by 10.0% during the 2nd quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC now owns 135,621 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $10,315,000 after buying an additional 12,346 shares during the last quarter. CreativeOne Wealth LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Sempra by 171.6% in the 1st quarter. CreativeOne Wealth LLC now owns 10,477 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $753,000 after buying an additional 6,620 shares in the last quarter. Finally, TCW Group Inc. grew its position in shares of Sempra by 28.2% in the 2nd quarter. TCW Group Inc. now owns 67,765 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $5,154,000 after buying an additional 14,890 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 89.65% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages recently weighed in on SRE. Jefferies Financial Group assumed coverage on shares of Sempra in a research report on Thursday, October 24th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $98.00 price target for the company. Barclays boosted their target price on Sempra from $87.00 to $89.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 1st. BMO Capital Markets raised their price target on Sempra from $93.00 to $96.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, October 21st. Bank of America started coverage on Sempra in a research report on Thursday, September 12th. They set a “buy” rating and a $94.00 price target on the stock. Finally, Evercore ISI increased their price objective on Sempra from $84.00 to $88.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, November 7th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has issued a hold rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Sempra has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $89.00.

Sempra Stock Performance

Shares of SRE opened at $92.19 on Monday. The stock has a market capitalization of $58.39 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.31, a P/E/G ratio of 2.53 and a beta of 0.75. 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 has a 1 year low of $66.40 and a 1 year high of $93.12. The company’s fifty day moving average is $84.52 and its two-hundred day moving average is $80.02.

Sempra (NYSE:SRE) last issued its quarterly 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). The firm had revenue of $2.78 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.54 billion. Sempra had a return on equity of 8.06% and a net margin of 22.63%. The company’s revenue was down 16.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $1.08 earnings per share. On average, sell-side 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. Stockholders of record on Thursday, December 5th will be issued a $0.62 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, December 5th. This represents a $2.48 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.69%. Sempra’s dividend payout ratio is currently 54.63%.

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.