Cerity Partners LLC Has $9.81 Million Stock Position in Sempra (NYSE:SRE)

Cerity Partners LLC boosted its stake in shares of Sempra (NYSE:SRE) by 8.7% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 117,249 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 9,342 shares during the quarter. Cerity Partners LLC’s holdings in Sempra were worth $9,808,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Clearbridge Investments LLC increased its holdings in shares of Sempra by 6.9% during the 2nd quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC now owns 13,452,912 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,023,228,000 after purchasing an additional 874,133 shares during the period. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA increased its stake in Sempra by 3.0% during the third quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 4,335,339 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $362,564,000 after acquiring an additional 125,833 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its holdings in Sempra by 1.4% in the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 3,625,473 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $303,198,000 after acquiring an additional 48,512 shares in the last quarter. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale lifted its position in shares of Sempra by 2.1% in the 2nd quarter. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale now owns 2,404,573 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $182,158,000 after acquiring an additional 48,592 shares during the period. Finally, Swiss National Bank grew its holdings in shares of Sempra by 0.4% during the 3rd quarter. Swiss National Bank now owns 1,878,400 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $157,091,000 after purchasing an additional 6,700 shares in the last quarter. 89.65% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

SRE has been the subject of several recent research reports. BMO Capital Markets increased their price target on shares of Sempra from $93.00 to $96.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, October 21st. Jefferies Financial Group started coverage on Sempra in a report on Thursday, October 24th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $98.00 target price for the company. Bank of America began coverage on Sempra in a research note on Thursday, September 12th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $94.00 price target on the stock. Evercore ISI increased their price objective on Sempra from $84.00 to $88.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 7th. Finally, Morgan Stanley boosted their target price on shares of Sempra from $80.00 to $85.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, September 25th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has assigned a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $89.00.

Insider Transactions at Sempra

In other news, VP Trevor I. Mihalik sold 23,713 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, November 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $93.09, for a total transaction of $2,207,443.17. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now owns 11,190 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,041,677.10. This represents a 67.94 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Insiders own 0.24% of the company’s stock.

Sempra Trading Down 1.6 %

SRE opened at $93.28 on Wednesday. The company has a current ratio of 0.52, a quick ratio of 0.47 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.89. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $86.07 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $80.97. Sempra has a 1-year low of $66.40 and a 1-year high of $95.77. The stock has a market capitalization of $59.08 billion, a PE ratio of 20.55, a PEG ratio of 2.59 and a beta of 0.75.

Sempra (NYSE:SRE) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, November 6th. The utilities provider reported $0.89 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.05 by ($0.16). The business had revenue of $2.78 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.54 billion. Sempra had a net margin of 22.63% and a return on equity of 8.06%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 16.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $1.08 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Sempra will post 4.77 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Sempra Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, January 15th. Investors of record on Thursday, December 5th will be paid a dividend of $0.62 per share. This represents a $2.48 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.66%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, December 5th. Sempra’s payout ratio is 54.63%.

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.