Sempra (NYSE:SRE) Position Increased by Brooklyn Investment Group

Brooklyn Investment Group lifted its position in Sempra (NYSE:SRE) by 8.5% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 3,917 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 308 shares during the period. Brooklyn Investment Group’s holdings in Sempra were worth $344,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its holdings in shares of Sempra by 19.7% in the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,757,553 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $133,679,000 after purchasing an additional 289,731 shares in the last quarter. Benjamin F. Edwards & Company Inc. lifted its stake in Sempra by 7.4% in the 2nd quarter. Benjamin F. Edwards & Company Inc. now owns 15,752 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,198,000 after acquiring an additional 1,089 shares in the last quarter. Benjamin Edwards Inc. grew its stake in Sempra by 6.0% during the 2nd quarter. Benjamin Edwards Inc. now owns 3,907 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $297,000 after acquiring an additional 221 shares in the last quarter. AE Wealth Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Sempra by 41.0% in the 2nd quarter. AE Wealth Management LLC now owns 7,347 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $559,000 after purchasing an additional 2,136 shares during the period. Finally, Ensign Peak Advisors Inc lifted its position in shares of Sempra by 21.0% in the second quarter. Ensign Peak Advisors Inc now owns 112,645 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $8,568,000 after purchasing an additional 19,575 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 89.65% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, VP Trevor I. Mihalik sold 23,713 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated 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 transaction, the vice president now directly owns 11,190 shares in the company, valued at $1,041,677.10. The trade was a 67.94 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. 0.27% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts recently commented on SRE shares. Jefferies Financial Group started coverage on shares of Sempra in a research note on Thursday, October 24th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $98.00 price objective on the stock. Morgan Stanley upgraded Sempra from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and increased their price objective for the stock from $85.00 to $98.00 in a report on Friday, December 13th. 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 note on Monday, October 21st. Evercore ISI raised 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, Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price target on Sempra from $87.00 to $96.00 and gave the company 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 company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $91.60.

Sempra Stock Performance

Shares of SRE opened at $85.24 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $53.99 billion, a PE ratio of 18.77, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.00 and a beta of 0.78. 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 one year low of $66.40 and a one year high of $95.77. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $88.50 and its 200 day moving average price is $83.80.

Sempra (NYSE:SRE) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, November 6th. The utilities provider reported $0.89 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 business had revenue of $2.78 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.54 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $1.08 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 16.7% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts expect that Sempra will post 4.77 earnings per share for the current year.

Sempra Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, January 15th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, December 5th were paid a $0.62 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, December 5th. This represents a $2.48 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.91%. Sempra’s payout ratio is 54.63%.

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.