Wealthspire Advisors LLC Acquires 214 Shares of Sempra (NYSE:SRE)

Wealthspire Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Sempra (NYSE:SRE) by 4.2% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 5,263 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after buying an additional 214 shares during the period. Wealthspire Advisors LLC’s holdings in Sempra were worth $462,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Wellington Management Group LLP increased its stake in Sempra by 0.4% in the 3rd quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 34,324,893 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $2,870,591,000 after acquiring an additional 128,847 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp increased its stake in Sempra by 4.9% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 32,940,620 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $2,774,974,000 after acquiring an additional 1,539,026 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC increased its stake in Sempra by 9.1% in the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 18,978,605 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,587,181,000 after acquiring an additional 1,582,653 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its stake in Sempra by 1.2% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 12,761,872 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,063,007,000 after acquiring an additional 145,873 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Franklin Resources Inc. increased its stake in Sempra by 1.7% in the 3rd quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 7,695,988 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $639,921,000 after acquiring an additional 129,891 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 89.65% of the company’s stock.

Sempra Price Performance

SRE opened at $72.70 on Thursday. Sempra has a 12-month low of $64.89 and a 12-month high of $95.77. The company has a current ratio of 0.52, a quick ratio of 0.47 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.89. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $83.71 and its 200-day simple moving average is $84.84. The company has a market capitalization of $46.05 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.01, a PEG ratio of 2.19 and a beta of 0.78.

Sempra (NYSE:SRE) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 25th. The utilities provider reported $1.50 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.47 by $0.03. Sempra had a return on equity of 8.06% and a net margin of 22.63%. The business had revenue of $3.76 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.73 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $1.13 EPS. The business’s revenue was up 7.6% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Sempra will post 4.76 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Sempra Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 15th. Investors of record on Thursday, March 20th will be paid a dividend of $0.645 per share. This is a boost from Sempra’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.62. This represents a $2.58 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.55%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, March 20th. Sempra’s dividend payout ratio is 54.63%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO Jeffrey W. Martin sold 49,737 shares of the company’s 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 completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2 shares in the company, valued at $165.88. This represents a 100.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, SVP Alexander Lisa Larroque sold 2,755 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $81.93, for a total value of $225,717.15. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 13,905 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,139,236.65. This trade represents a 16.54 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.24% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts have issued reports on the company. Guggenheim reduced their price objective on Sempra from $95.00 to $87.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday. Mizuho dropped their target price on Sempra from $92.00 to $76.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday. The Goldman Sachs Group cut Sempra from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and dropped their target price for the stock from $99.00 to $76.00 in a report on Wednesday. UBS Group cut Sempra from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and dropped their target price for the stock from $95.00 to $78.00 in a report on Wednesday. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company dropped their target price on Sempra from $96.00 to $88.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday. Two analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eleven have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Sempra has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $86.31.

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.