abrdn plc Has $25.28 Million Stake in Sempra (NYSE:SRE)

abrdn plc grew its position in Sempra (NYSE:SRE) by 7.2% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 303,786 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after buying an additional 20,423 shares during the period. abrdn plc’s holdings in Sempra were worth $25,280,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Eastern Bank acquired a new stake in Sempra during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $28,000. Family Firm Inc. bought a new position in shares of Sempra in the second quarter valued at $30,000. Ashton Thomas Private Wealth LLC bought a new position in shares of Sempra in the second quarter valued at $33,000. Financial Connections Group Inc. bought a new position in shares of Sempra in the second quarter valued at $34,000. Finally, SouthState Corp grew its stake in shares of Sempra by 900.0% in the second quarter. SouthState Corp now owns 470 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $36,000 after buying an additional 423 shares in the last quarter. 89.65% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

SRE has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Barclays lifted their price objective on shares of Sempra from $87.00 to $89.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 1st. Morgan Stanley lifted their price objective on shares of Sempra from $80.00 to $85.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, September 25th. Evercore ISI lifted their target price on Sempra from $83.00 to $84.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, August 7th. BMO Capital Markets lifted their target price on Sempra from $93.00 to $96.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, October 21st. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group began coverage on Sempra in a report on Thursday, October 24th. They set a “buy” rating and a $98.00 target price for the company. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has assigned a hold rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $87.55.

Sempra Stock Performance

Shares of SRE stock opened at $83.38 on Friday. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $83.13 and its 200 day simple moving average is $78.50. Sempra has a one year low of $66.40 and a one year high of $86.57. The stock has a market capitalization of $52.79 billion, a PE ratio of 17.82, a PEG ratio of 2.69 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.

Sempra (NYSE:SRE) last issued its quarterly 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 net margin of 22.31% and a return on equity of 8.58%. The business had revenue of $3.01 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.46 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.94 earnings per share. Sempra’s quarterly revenue was down 9.7% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts forecast that Sempra will post 4.78 earnings per share for the current year.

Sempra Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, October 15th. Investors of record on Thursday, September 26th were given a $0.62 dividend. This represents a $2.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.97%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, September 26th. Sempra’s payout ratio is currently 52.99%.

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.