GAMMA Investing LLC Buys 4,261 Shares of Sempra (NYSE:SRE)

GAMMA Investing LLC raised its stake in shares of Sempra (NYSE:SRE) by 52.4% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 12,391 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 4,261 shares during the quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC’s holdings in Sempra were worth $1,036,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other large investors have also made changes to their positions in the stock. Wellington Management Group LLP raised its holdings in Sempra by 12.1% in the 4th quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 27,123,899 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $2,026,969,000 after acquiring an additional 2,917,668 shares in the last quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB raised its stake in shares of Sempra by 5,279.4% in the first quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 1,583,816 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $113,591,000 after purchasing an additional 1,554,374 shares in the last quarter. M&G Plc bought a new position in Sempra in the first quarter worth $64,994,000. Clearbridge Investments LLC boosted its stake in Sempra by 6.9% during the second quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC now owns 13,452,912 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,023,228,000 after buying an additional 874,133 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Zimmer Partners LP increased its holdings in Sempra by 96.9% in the 1st quarter. Zimmer Partners LP now owns 1,636,202 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $117,528,000 after buying an additional 805,084 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 89.65% of the company’s stock.

Sempra Trading Down 1.3 %

SRE opened at $81.51 on Tuesday. Sempra has a 1-year low of $66.40 and a 1-year high of $84.47. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $81.48 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $76.83. The stock has a market capitalization of $51.61 billion, a PE ratio of 18.05, a PEG ratio of 2.65 and a beta of 0.75. The company has a current ratio of 0.46, a quick ratio of 0.41 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.84.

Sempra (NYSE:SRE) last issued its quarterly earnings results 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 during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.46 billion. Sempra had a net margin of 22.31% and a return on equity of 8.58%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 9.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $0.94 EPS. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Sempra will post 4.79 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Sempra Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared 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 3.04%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, September 26th. Sempra’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 54.93%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have recently commented on the stock. Morgan Stanley raised their price objective on shares of Sempra from $80.00 to $85.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday, September 25th. BMO Capital Markets upped their price objective on Sempra from $90.00 to $93.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, September 12th. Bank of America assumed coverage on Sempra in a research report on Thursday, September 12th. They set a “buy” rating and a $94.00 target price for the company. Barclays increased their price objective on Sempra from $87.00 to $89.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 1st. Finally, Evercore ISI boosted their target price on shares of Sempra from $83.00 to $84.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 7th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has assigned a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $85.27.

Sempra Company 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.