Benjamin Edwards Inc. Buys 221 Shares of Sempra (NYSE:SRE)

Benjamin Edwards Inc. increased its stake in Sempra (NYSE:SRE) by 6.0% during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 3,907 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 221 shares during the period. Benjamin Edwards Inc.’s holdings in Sempra were worth $297,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of SRE. Brown Advisory Inc. grew its position in Sempra by 11.7% during the fourth quarter. Brown Advisory Inc. now owns 5,638 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $421,000 after acquiring an additional 589 shares during the last quarter. CreativeOne Wealth LLC bought a new position in Sempra during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $288,000. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. grew its position in Sempra by 30.6% during the fourth quarter. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. now owns 39,575 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $2,957,000 after acquiring an additional 9,279 shares during the last quarter. US Bancorp DE grew its position in Sempra by 0.8% during the fourth quarter. US Bancorp DE now owns 150,932 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $11,279,000 after acquiring an additional 1,260 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Commerce Bank grew its position in Sempra by 8.4% during the fourth quarter. Commerce Bank now owns 67,801 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $5,067,000 after acquiring an additional 5,265 shares during the last quarter. 89.65% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Sempra Stock Performance

Shares of SRE stock opened at $83.18 on Friday. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $80.40 and a 200 day moving average of $75.92. Sempra has a 52 week low of $63.75 and a 52 week high of $84.29. The firm has a market capitalization of $52.42 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.44, a PEG ratio of 2.65 and a beta of 0.75. The company has a quick ratio of 0.41, a current ratio of 0.46 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.84.

Sempra (NYSE:SRE) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, August 6th. The utilities provider reported $0.89 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.92 by ($0.03). The business had revenue of $3.01 billion during 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 business’s revenue was down 9.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $0.94 EPS. As a group, research analysts expect that Sempra will post 4.79 earnings per share for the current year.

Sempra Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, October 15th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, September 26th will be given a dividend of $0.62 per share. This represents a $2.48 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.98%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, September 26th. Sempra’s dividend payout ratio is currently 54.99%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

SRE has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. BMO Capital Markets increased their price target on shares of Sempra from $90.00 to $93.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, September 12th. Bank of America assumed coverage on Sempra in a research note on Thursday, September 12th. They set a “buy” rating and a $94.00 price objective for the company. Evercore ISI increased their price objective on Sempra from $83.00 to $84.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 7th. LADENBURG THALM/SH SH dropped their price objective on Sempra from $81.50 to $79.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, May 29th. Finally, Morgan Stanley increased their price objective on Sempra from $77.00 to $80.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, August 23rd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has assigned a hold rating and ten have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $85.00.

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.