Raymond James & Associates Buys 209,158 Shares of Sempra (NYSE:SRE)

Raymond James & Associates raised its stake in shares of Sempra (NYSE:SRE) by 21.5% in the second quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 1,180,886 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after buying an additional 209,158 shares during the quarter. Raymond James & Associates owned about 0.19% of Sempra worth $89,818,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in SRE. JFS Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its stake in Sempra by 195.1% in the 4th quarter. JFS Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 419 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $31,000 after purchasing an additional 277 shares in the last quarter. Opal Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Sempra during the second quarter valued at approximately $39,000. Rational Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Sempra during the first quarter valued at approximately $43,000. Salomon & Ludwin LLC purchased a new position in Sempra in the 1st quarter worth approximately $44,000. Finally, Crewe Advisors LLC bought a new position in Sempra in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $48,000. 89.65% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Sempra Stock Performance

Sempra stock traded up $0.31 during trading on Friday, reaching $79.99. The company had a trading volume of 3,244,268 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,858,286. The firm has a market capitalization of $50.65 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.72, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.74 and a beta of 0.74. The company has a current ratio of 0.46, a quick ratio of 0.41 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.84. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $77.13 and its 200 day simple moving average is $73.90. Sempra has a 52 week low of $63.75 and a 52 week high of $83.68.

Sempra (NYSE:SRE) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, August 6th. The utilities provider reported $0.89 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.92 by ($0.03). The company had revenue of $3.01 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.46 billion. Sempra had a return on equity of 8.58% and a net margin of 22.31%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 9.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business earned $0.94 EPS. Sell-side analysts forecast that Sempra will post 4.79 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In related news, CAO Peter R. Wall sold 6,100 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, June 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $75.07, for a total value of $457,927.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 14,751 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,107,357.57. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Insiders own 0.24% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have commented on SRE. LADENBURG THALM/SH SH reduced their target price on Sempra from $81.50 to $79.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, May 29th. Morgan Stanley lowered their target price on shares of Sempra from $79.00 to $76.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, June 24th. Barclays lifted their price target on shares of Sempra from $81.00 to $87.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 13th. BMO Capital Markets lowered their price objective on shares of Sempra from $86.00 to $84.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, July 10th. Finally, Evercore ISI raised their target price on shares of Sempra from $83.00 to $84.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, August 7th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has given a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Sempra presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $83.00.

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.