Apollon Wealth Management LLC Boosts Stock Position in Sempra (NYSE:SRE)

Apollon Wealth Management LLC increased its position in Sempra (NYSE:SRE) by 10.0% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 11,241 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,026 shares during the quarter. Apollon Wealth Management LLC’s holdings in Sempra were worth $840,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Monetary Management Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Sempra by 100.0% during the 3rd quarter. Monetary Management Group Inc. now owns 400 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $27,000 after buying an additional 200 shares in the last quarter. Essex Investment Management Co. LLC lifted its position in shares of Sempra by 100.0% in the third quarter. Essex Investment Management Co. LLC now owns 390 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $27,000 after acquiring an additional 195 shares in the last quarter. Wolverine Asset Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Sempra by 100.0% in the third quarter. Wolverine Asset Management LLC now owns 400 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $27,000 after acquiring an additional 200 shares during the period. Spire Wealth Management boosted its stake in shares of Sempra by 85.6% in the third quarter. Spire Wealth Management now owns 412 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $28,000 after acquiring an additional 190 shares during the period. Finally, Turtle Creek Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Sempra during the fourth quarter worth about $28,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 89.65% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts have weighed in on SRE shares. Royal Bank of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $82.00 price target on shares of Sempra in a research note on Wednesday, March 6th. BMO Capital Markets upgraded shares of Sempra from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and upped their target price for the stock from $76.00 to $84.00 in a research report on Thursday, January 11th. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Sempra from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 20th. Morgan Stanley increased their price objective on shares of Sempra from $74.00 to $75.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, March 21st. Finally, Mizuho reduced their target price on Sempra from $83.00 to $79.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, January 25th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has assigned a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Sempra currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $82.23.

Insider Activity

In related news, CEO Jeffrey W. Martin sold 50,703 shares of Sempra stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $70.92, for a total transaction of $3,595,856.76. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $141.84. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. In other news, CEO Jeffrey W. Martin sold 50,703 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $70.92, for a total value of $3,595,856.76. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2 shares in the company, valued at $141.84. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, insider Diana L. Day sold 3,937 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $71.21, for a total value of $280,353.77. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 18,145 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,292,105.45. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 122,432 shares of company stock valued at $8,668,035. 0.27% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Sempra Trading Up 1.3 %

SRE opened at $76.18 on Friday. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $70.84 and a 200 day moving average of $71.89. The company has a current ratio of 0.54, a quick ratio of 0.49 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.85. Sempra has a 12 month low of $63.75 and a 12 month high of $78.70. The firm has a market cap of $48.16 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.90, a P/E/G ratio of 2.52 and a beta of 0.70.

Sempra (NYSE:SRE) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, May 7th. The utilities provider reported $1.34 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.35 by ($0.01). The company had revenue of $3.64 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.58 billion. Sempra had a net margin of 18.26% and a return on equity of 9.45%. Sempra’s revenue for the quarter was down 44.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $1.46 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts forecast that Sempra will post 4.82 EPS for the current year.

Sempra Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, April 15th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, March 21st were given a dividend of $0.62 per share. This is a boost from Sempra’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.60. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, March 20th. This represents a $2.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.26%. Sempra’s payout ratio is 51.77%.

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.