Norden Group LLC Purchases New Shares in Sempra (NYSE:SRE)

Norden Group LLC purchased a new stake in Sempra (NYSE:SRE) during the 1st quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm purchased 17,668 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $1,269,000.

Several other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Holdings Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Sempra by 0.8% during the 1st quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Holdings Inc. now owns 1,530,330 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $109,924,000 after buying an additional 12,197 shares in the last quarter. Iams Wealth Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Sempra by 10.2% during the 1st quarter. Iams Wealth Management LLC now owns 7,552 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $534,000 after buying an additional 699 shares in the last quarter. Founders Financial Securities LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Sempra by 13.7% during the 1st quarter. Founders Financial Securities LLC now owns 28,277 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $2,031,000 after buying an additional 3,413 shares in the last quarter. Fox Hill Wealth Management boosted its holdings in shares of Sempra by 5.1% during the 1st quarter. Fox Hill Wealth Management now owns 16,573 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,190,000 after buying an additional 801 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Vicus Capital bought a new stake in shares of Sempra during the 1st quarter valued at $301,000. Institutional investors own 89.65% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts have recently commented on the stock. LADENBURG THALM/SH SH dropped their target price on shares of Sempra from $81.50 to $79.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, May 29th. Mizuho upped their price target on shares of Sempra from $79.00 to $86.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, May 17th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on shares of Sempra from $79.00 to $84.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 8th. Morgan Stanley dropped their price target on shares of Sempra from $79.00 to $76.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, June 24th. Finally, Barclays upped their price target on shares of Sempra from $77.00 to $79.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 14th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has given a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Sempra has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $82.10.

Insider Activity

In other Sempra news, Director Richard J. Mark purchased 1,925 shares of Sempra stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 17th. The stock was purchased at an average price of $77.97 per share, with a total value of $150,092.25. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 5,420 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $422,597.40. The purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this link. In related news, CAO Peter R. Wall sold 6,100 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, June 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $75.07, for a total value of $457,927.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 14,751 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,107,357.57. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Director Richard J. Mark bought 1,925 shares of Sempra stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 17th. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $77.97 per share, with a total value of $150,092.25. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director now directly owns 5,420 shares in the company, valued at approximately $422,597.40. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Insiders own 0.27% of the company’s stock.

Sempra Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:SRE opened at $76.13 on Friday. Sempra has a fifty-two week low of $63.75 and a fifty-two week high of $78.83. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $75.59 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $73.02. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.87, a quick ratio of 0.57 and a current ratio of 0.62. The firm has a market cap of $47.97 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.86, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.61 and a beta of 0.74.

Sempra (NYSE:SRE) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, May 7th. The utilities provider reported $1.34 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.35 by ($0.01). Sempra had a return on equity of 8.95% and a net margin of 20.99%. The business had revenue of $3.64 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.58 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $1.46 EPS. Sempra’s quarterly revenue was down 44.5% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts expect that Sempra will post 4.8 earnings per share for the current year.

Sempra Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, July 15th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, June 27th will be given a dividend of $0.62 per share. This represents a $2.48 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.26%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, June 27th. Sempra’s payout ratio is currently 54.93%.

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.