Private Advisor Group LLC Grows Stock Position in Sempra (NYSE:SRE)

Private Advisor Group LLC increased its position in shares of Sempra (NYSE:SRE) by 1.6% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 8,742 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after buying an additional 139 shares during the quarter. Private Advisor Group LLC’s holdings in Sempra were worth $731,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Eastern Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Sempra during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $28,000. Family Firm Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Sempra during the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $30,000. Ashton Thomas Private Wealth LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Sempra during the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $33,000. Financial Connections Group Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Sempra during the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $34,000. Finally, SouthState Corp raised its position in shares of Sempra by 900.0% during the 2nd quarter. SouthState Corp now owns 470 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $36,000 after buying an additional 423 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 89.65% of the company’s stock.

Sempra Stock Down 2.1 %

Sempra stock opened at $81.65 on Friday. Sempra has a twelve month low of $66.40 and a twelve month high of $86.57. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $83.14 and its 200-day simple moving average is $78.68. The company has a current ratio of 0.46, a quick ratio of 0.41 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.84. The firm has a market capitalization of $51.70 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.45, a P/E/G ratio of 2.66 and a beta of 0.75.

Sempra (NYSE:SRE) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, August 6th. The utilities provider reported $0.89 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.92 by ($0.03). The company had revenue of $3.01 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.46 billion. Sempra had a return on equity of 8.58% and a net margin of 22.31%. The firm’s revenue was down 9.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.94 EPS. As a group, equities analysts expect that Sempra will post 4.77 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Sempra Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, October 15th. Investors of record on Thursday, September 26th were paid a dividend of $0.62 per share. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, September 26th. This represents a $2.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.04%. Sempra’s payout ratio is currently 52.99%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts have issued reports on the company. Evercore ISI boosted their target price on Sempra from $83.00 to $84.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 7th. Morgan Stanley boosted their target price on Sempra from $80.00 to $85.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, September 25th. Jefferies Financial Group assumed coverage on Sempra in a research report on Thursday, October 24th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $98.00 target price on the stock. Barclays boosted their target price on Sempra from $87.00 to $89.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 1st. Finally, 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. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has given a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Sempra has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $87.55.

About Sempra

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.