Ashton Thomas Securities LLC Makes New $86,000 Investment in Sempra (NYSE:SRE)

Ashton Thomas Securities LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Sempra (NYSE:SRE) during the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm acquired 1,034 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $86,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of SRE. State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D lifted its stake in Sempra by 1.2% in the third quarter. State of New Jersey Common Pension Fund D now owns 222,947 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $18,645,000 after buying an additional 2,740 shares in the last quarter. Crossmark Global Holdings Inc. lifted its position in Sempra by 2.2% in the 3rd quarter. Crossmark Global Holdings Inc. now owns 39,254 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $3,283,000 after acquiring an additional 830 shares in the last quarter. Legacy Capital Wealth Partners LLC boosted its stake in Sempra by 2.4% in the 3rd quarter. Legacy Capital Wealth Partners LLC now owns 7,149 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $598,000 after purchasing an additional 170 shares during the period. Axxcess Wealth Management LLC increased its holdings in Sempra by 56.6% during the 3rd quarter. Axxcess Wealth Management LLC now owns 24,923 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $2,084,000 after purchasing an additional 9,012 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Sustainable Insight Capital Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Sempra in the 3rd quarter valued at about $376,000. 89.65% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Jefferies Financial Group started coverage on Sempra in a research report on Thursday, October 24th. They set a “buy” rating and a $98.00 price objective for the company. BMO Capital Markets raised their price target on shares of Sempra from $93.00 to $96.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, October 21st. Evercore ISI boosted their price objective on shares of Sempra from $84.00 to $88.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 7th. Morgan Stanley raised their target price on shares of Sempra from $80.00 to $85.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, September 25th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price target on shares of 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, one has issued a hold rating and ten have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $89.00.

Sempra Stock Up 0.1 %

Shares of SRE stock opened at $92.23 on Wednesday. Sempra has a 52-week low of $66.40 and a 52-week high of $92.66. The stock has a market cap of $58.42 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.31, a PEG ratio of 2.91 and a beta of 0.75. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $83.80 and its 200-day moving average is $79.46. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.89, a quick ratio of 0.41 and a current ratio of 0.52.

Sempra (NYSE:SRE) last issued its 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 business had revenue of $2.78 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.54 billion. Sempra had a return on equity of 8.06% and a net margin of 22.63%. The business’s revenue was down 16.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $1.08 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts predict that Sempra will post 4.77 EPS for the current year.

Sempra Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, January 15th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, December 5th will be given a $0.62 dividend. This represents a $2.48 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.69%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, December 5th. Sempra’s payout ratio is presently 54.63%.

Sempra Company 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.