Sempra (NYSE:SRE) Shares Sold by Premier Fund Managers Ltd

Premier Fund Managers Ltd lessened its holdings in shares of Sempra (NYSE:SRE) by 19.0% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 34,000 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 8,000 shares during the period. Premier Fund Managers Ltd’s holdings in Sempra were worth $2,830,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Eastern Bank purchased a new stake in Sempra in the third quarter valued at about $28,000. Family Firm Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Sempra in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $30,000. Hollencrest Capital Management raised its position in shares of Sempra by 250.0% in the 3rd quarter. Hollencrest Capital Management now owns 378 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $32,000 after purchasing an additional 270 shares during the last quarter. Ashton Thomas Private Wealth LLC acquired a new stake in Sempra in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $33,000. Finally, Financial Connections Group Inc. purchased a new stake in Sempra during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $34,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 89.65% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts recently issued reports on SRE shares. Evercore ISI upped their target price on Sempra from $84.00 to $88.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 7th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on Sempra from $87.00 to $96.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, November 7th. Jefferies Financial Group started coverage on shares of Sempra in a report on Thursday, October 24th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $98.00 price target on the stock. Barclays raised their price target on shares of Sempra from $87.00 to $89.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 1st. Finally, Bank of America assumed coverage on shares of Sempra in a report on Thursday, September 12th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $94.00 price objective on the stock. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has issued a hold rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Sempra has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $89.00.

Sempra Trading Up 0.5 %

SRE stock opened at $93.37 on Wednesday. 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 52-week low of $66.40 and a 52-week high of $93.44. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $84.94 and its 200-day simple moving average is $80.30. The firm has a market cap of $59.14 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.57, a PEG ratio of 2.53 and a beta of 0.75.

Sempra (NYSE:SRE) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, November 6th. The utilities provider reported $0.89 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.05 by ($0.16). The business had revenue of $2.78 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.54 billion. Sempra had a return on equity of 8.06% and a net margin of 22.63%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 16.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $1.08 EPS. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Sempra will post 4.77 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Sempra Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, January 15th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, December 5th will be given a dividend of $0.62 per share. This represents a $2.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.66%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, December 5th. Sempra’s dividend 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.