Fort Washington Investment Advisors Inc. OH Increases Stake in Sempra (NYSE:SRE)

Fort Washington Investment Advisors Inc. OH grew its stake in Sempra (NYSE:SRE) by 11.3% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 5,426 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after buying an additional 549 shares during the quarter. Fort Washington Investment Advisors Inc. OH’s holdings in Sempra were worth $476,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the stock. Atomi Financial Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Sempra by 7.4% in the 4th quarter. Atomi Financial Group Inc. now owns 10,257 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $900,000 after buying an additional 705 shares during the period. Mitchell & Pahl Private Wealth LLC boosted its stake in shares of Sempra by 3.9% in the 4th quarter. Mitchell & Pahl Private Wealth LLC now owns 28,318 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $2,484,000 after buying an additional 1,071 shares during the period. Ballentine Partners LLC boosted its stake in shares of Sempra by 8.6% in the 4th quarter. Ballentine Partners LLC now owns 4,629 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $406,000 after buying an additional 366 shares during the period. Pure Financial Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of Sempra by 0.7% in the 4th quarter. Pure Financial Advisors LLC now owns 35,057 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $3,075,000 after buying an additional 259 shares during the period. Finally, DLK Investment Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Sempra by 19.4% in the 4th quarter. DLK Investment Management LLC now owns 21,527 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,888,000 after buying an additional 3,497 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 89.65% of the company’s stock.

Sempra Trading Up 0.1 %

SRE opened at $82.88 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $52.50 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.26, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.20 and a beta of 0.78. Sempra has a 52 week low of $66.40 and a 52 week high of $95.77. The business’s 50 day moving average is $88.06 and its two-hundred day moving average is $84.05. 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 (NYSE:SRE) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, November 6th. The utilities provider reported $0.89 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate 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 quarterly revenue was down 16.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm earned $1.08 EPS. On average, research analysts predict that Sempra will post 4.77 EPS for the current year.

Sempra Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, January 15th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, December 5th were issued a $0.62 dividend. This represents a $2.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.99%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, December 5th. Sempra’s payout ratio is currently 54.63%.

Insider Activity

In other news, VP Trevor I. Mihalik sold 23,713 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, November 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $93.09, for a total value of $2,207,443.17. Following the transaction, the vice president now 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 ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 0.24% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts have recently weighed in on SRE shares. Evercore ISI raised their target price on Sempra from $84.00 to $88.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 7th. Jefferies Financial Group started coverage on Sempra in a research report on Thursday, October 24th. They set a “buy” rating and a $98.00 target price on the stock. BMO Capital Markets raised their target price on Sempra from $93.00 to $96.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, October 21st. Barclays raised their target price on Sempra from $89.00 to $99.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, December 2nd. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on Sempra from $87.00 to $96.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 7th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Sempra currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus 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.