Sempra (NYSE:SRE) Shares Purchased by GHP Investment Advisors Inc.

GHP Investment Advisors Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Sempra (NYSE:SRE) by 81.0% during the 2nd quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 894 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after buying an additional 400 shares during the quarter. GHP Investment Advisors Inc.’s holdings in Sempra were worth $68,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in SRE. Family Firm Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Sempra during the second quarter valued at about $30,000. Ashton Thomas Private Wealth LLC purchased a new stake in Sempra during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $33,000. Financial Connections Group Inc. acquired a new position in Sempra during the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $34,000. SouthState Corp raised its holdings in shares of Sempra by 900.0% in the second quarter. SouthState Corp now owns 470 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $36,000 after buying an additional 423 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Opal Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Sempra during the second quarter worth $39,000. 89.65% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In other Sempra news, CAO Peter R. Wall sold 6,100 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, June 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $75.07, for a total transaction of $457,927.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 14,751 shares in the company, valued at $1,107,357.57. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Insiders own 0.24% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

SRE has been the topic of several research reports. Evercore ISI upped 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. Barclays raised their price objective on Sempra from $81.00 to $87.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 13th. Bank of America initiated coverage on Sempra in a research report on Thursday. They issued a “buy” rating and a $94.00 target price on the stock. Morgan Stanley raised their price target on shares of Sempra from $77.00 to $80.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, August 23rd. Finally, LADENBURG THALM/SH SH dropped their price objective 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. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has given a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Sempra presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $85.00.

Sempra Stock Performance

SRE opened at $82.97 on Monday. The stock has a market cap of $52.53 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.38, a P/E/G ratio of 2.83 and a beta of 0.75. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.84, a current ratio of 0.46 and a quick ratio of 0.41. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $79.69 and a 200 day moving average price of $75.51. Sempra has a 1 year low of $63.75 and a 1 year high of $84.28.

Sempra (NYSE:SRE) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, August 6th. The utilities provider reported $0.89 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.92 by ($0.03). Sempra had a return on equity of 8.58% and a net margin of 22.31%. The firm had revenue of $3.01 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.46 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $0.94 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was down 9.7% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts anticipate that Sempra will post 4.79 earnings per share for the current year.

Sempra Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, October 15th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, September 26th will be paid a dividend of $0.62 per share. This represents a $2.48 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.99%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, September 26th. Sempra’s payout ratio is 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.