Geneos Wealth Management Inc. Increases Holdings in Sempra (NYSE:SRE)

Geneos Wealth Management Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Sempra (NYSE:SRE) by 633.4% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 29,917 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after buying an additional 25,838 shares during the period. Geneos Wealth Management Inc.’s holdings in Sempra were worth $2,624,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Private Advisor Group LLC grew its position in Sempra by 1.6% in the third quarter. Private Advisor Group LLC now owns 8,742 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $731,000 after acquiring an additional 139 shares during the period. LVM Capital Management Ltd. MI grew its holdings in shares of Sempra by 2.4% during the 4th quarter. LVM Capital Management Ltd. MI now owns 6,677 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $586,000 after purchasing an additional 155 shares during the period. Kingsview Wealth Management LLC increased its position in shares of Sempra by 0.3% during the 3rd quarter. Kingsview Wealth Management LLC now owns 46,518 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $3,890,000 after purchasing an additional 158 shares during the last quarter. CX Institutional raised its holdings in Sempra by 5.5% in the 3rd quarter. CX Institutional now owns 3,083 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $258,000 after buying an additional 161 shares during the period. Finally, Rosenberg Matthew Hamilton lifted its position in Sempra by 4.2% in the third quarter. Rosenberg Matthew Hamilton now owns 4,031 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $337,000 after buying an additional 163 shares during the last quarter. 89.65% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at Sempra

In other Sempra news, VP Trevor I. Mihalik sold 23,713 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, November 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $93.09, for a total transaction of $2,207,443.17. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now owns 11,190 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,041,677.10. This represents a 67.94 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. 0.24% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms have recently issued reports on SRE. Evercore ISI boosted their price target on shares of Sempra from $84.00 to $88.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 7th. BMO Capital Markets boosted their target price on Sempra from $93.00 to $96.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, October 21st. Morgan Stanley upgraded Sempra from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and upped their price target for the stock from $85.00 to $98.00 in a research note on Friday, December 13th. Barclays lifted their price objective on Sempra from $89.00 to $99.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, December 2nd. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on Sempra from $87.00 to $96.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 7th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $91.60.

Sempra Price Performance

Shares of SRE opened at $82.78 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.89, a current ratio of 0.52 and a quick ratio of 0.47. Sempra has a 1-year low of $66.40 and a 1-year high of $95.77. The stock has a market cap of $52.43 billion, a PE ratio of 18.23, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.10 and a beta of 0.78. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $87.72 and a 200 day moving average price of $84.10.

Sempra (NYSE:SRE) last released 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). Sempra had a return on equity of 8.06% and a net margin of 22.63%. The firm had revenue of $2.78 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.54 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $1.08 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 16.7% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Sempra will post 4.77 EPS for the current year.

Sempra Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, January 15th. Investors of record on Thursday, December 5th were given a $0.62 dividend. This represents a $2.48 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.00%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, December 5th. Sempra’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) 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.