Foundations Investment Advisors LLC Raises Holdings in Sempra (NYSE:SRE)

Foundations Investment Advisors LLC grew its position in Sempra (NYSE:SRE) by 28.7% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 86,390 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after buying an additional 19,268 shares during the quarter. Foundations Investment Advisors LLC’s holdings in Sempra were worth $7,578,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in SRE. Mariner Investment Group LLC purchased a new position in shares of Sempra in the fourth quarter worth about $614,000. Webster Bank N. A. raised its stake in shares of Sempra by 4,183.3% in the fourth quarter. Webster Bank N. A. now owns 771 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $68,000 after purchasing an additional 753 shares during the last quarter. Cornerstone Wealth Group LLC raised its stake in shares of Sempra by 3.1% in the fourth quarter. Cornerstone Wealth Group LLC now owns 40,877 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $3,586,000 after purchasing an additional 1,243 shares during the last quarter. Union Bancaire Privee UBP SA acquired a new stake in Sempra during the fourth quarter worth about $29,880,000. Finally, Blue Trust Inc. grew its holdings in Sempra by 28.5% during the fourth quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 8,165 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $683,000 after acquiring an additional 1,809 shares during the period. 89.65% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts recently commented on the company. Jefferies Financial Group initiated coverage on Sempra in a report on Thursday, October 24th. They set a “buy” rating and a $98.00 target price on the stock. Barclays dropped their price objective on Sempra from $99.00 to $95.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Monday. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price target on Sempra from $87.00 to $96.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 7th. Evercore ISI lifted their price target on Sempra from $84.00 to $88.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 7th. Finally, Morgan Stanley raised Sempra from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and lifted their price target for the stock from $85.00 to $98.00 in a research note on Friday, December 13th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $91.20.

Sempra Price Performance

NYSE:SRE opened at $82.28 on Monday. Sempra has a 52 week low of $66.40 and a 52 week high of $95.77. The company has a quick ratio of 0.47, a current ratio of 0.52 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.89. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $87.72 and its two-hundred day moving average is $84.22. The company has a market capitalization of $52.12 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.12, a P/E/G ratio of 2.10 and a beta of 0.78.

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

Sempra Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, January 15th. Investors of record on Thursday, December 5th were paid a dividend of $0.62 per share. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, December 5th. This represents a $2.48 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.01%. Sempra’s payout ratio is 54.63%.

Insider Transactions at Sempra

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

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.