764 Shares in Sempra (NYSE:SRE) Bought by Copley Financial Group Inc.

Copley Financial Group Inc. purchased a new stake in Sempra (NYSE:SRE) in the third quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund purchased 764 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $64,000.

Other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. FMR LLC boosted its stake in Sempra by 9.1% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 18,978,605 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,587,181,000 after buying an additional 1,582,653 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp boosted its position in shares of Sempra by 4.9% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 32,940,620 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $2,774,974,000 after purchasing an additional 1,539,026 shares during the period. Clearbridge Investments LLC increased its stake in Sempra by 6.9% in the 2nd quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC now owns 13,452,912 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,023,228,000 after purchasing an additional 874,133 shares in the last quarter. National Bank of Canada FI lifted its stake in Sempra by 201.2% during the third quarter. National Bank of Canada FI now owns 620,394 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $51,882,000 after buying an additional 414,406 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Unigestion Holding SA acquired a new position in shares of Sempra in the third quarter worth about $33,023,000. 89.65% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Transactions at Sempra

In other news, VP Trevor I. Mihalik sold 23,713 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, November 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $93.09, for a total transaction of $2,207,443.17. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 11,190 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,041,677.10. The trade was a 67.94 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. 0.24% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Sempra Stock Performance

SRE stock traded up $1.12 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $89.05. 276,454 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,921,793. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $87.95 and a 200-day simple moving average of $82.06. The company has a quick ratio of 0.47, a current ratio of 0.52 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.89. Sempra has a twelve month low of $66.40 and a twelve month high of $95.77. The stock has a market capitalization of $56.40 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.37, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.40 and a beta of 0.77.

Sempra (NYSE:SRE) last released 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 net margin of 22.63% and a return on equity of 8.06%. The company 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 firm posted $1.08 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 16.7% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Sempra will post 4.76 earnings per share for the current year.

Sempra Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, January 15th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, December 5th will be paid a $0.62 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, December 5th. This represents a $2.48 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.78%. Sempra’s dividend payout ratio is presently 54.63%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts recently commented on the stock. Jefferies Financial Group assumed coverage on shares of Sempra in a research note on Thursday, October 24th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $98.00 price objective 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 boosted their price objective on shares of Sempra from $89.00 to $99.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, December 2nd. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on Sempra from $87.00 to $96.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 7th. Finally, Morgan Stanley raised Sempra from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and boosted their price target for the company from $85.00 to $98.00 in a research note on Friday. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating and ten have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $91.60.

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.