19,031 Shares in Sempra (NYSE:SRE) Bought by Spinnaker Investment Group LLC

Spinnaker Investment Group LLC purchased a new stake in Sempra (NYSE:SRE) during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor purchased 19,031 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $1,669,000. Sempra accounts for about 0.4% of Spinnaker Investment Group LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 22nd largest holding.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Eastern Bank acquired a new position in shares of Sempra in the 3rd quarter valued at $28,000. Hollencrest Capital Management increased its holdings in Sempra by 250.0% in the third quarter. Hollencrest Capital Management now owns 378 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $32,000 after buying an additional 270 shares in the last quarter. ST Germain D J Co. Inc. raised its position in shares of Sempra by 225.6% in the fourth quarter. ST Germain D J Co. Inc. now owns 433 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $38,000 after acquiring an additional 300 shares during the period. LRI Investments LLC boosted its stake in shares of Sempra by 180.4% during the 3rd quarter. LRI Investments LLC now owns 443 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $40,000 after acquiring an additional 285 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Mather Group LLC. grew its position in shares of Sempra by 35.5% during the 3rd quarter. Mather Group LLC. now owns 740 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $62,000 after acquiring an additional 194 shares during the period. 89.65% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Sempra Trading Up 0.1 %

SRE opened at $82.88 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $52.50 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.26, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.10 and a beta of 0.78. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $88.06 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $84.05. Sempra has a 1-year low of $66.40 and a 1-year high of $95.77. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.89, a current ratio of 0.52 and a quick ratio of 0.47.

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

Sempra Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, January 15th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, December 5th were paid a dividend of $0.62 per share. This represents a $2.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.99%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, December 5th. Sempra’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 54.63%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

SRE has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. BMO Capital Markets increased their price target on Sempra from $93.00 to $96.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, October 21st. Evercore ISI lifted their price target on shares of Sempra from $84.00 to $88.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 7th. Jefferies Financial Group assumed coverage on shares of Sempra in a research report on Thursday, October 24th. They set a “buy” rating and a $98.00 price objective for the company. Morgan Stanley upgraded shares of Sempra from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and lifted their target price for the company from $85.00 to $98.00 in a research report on Friday, December 13th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on shares of Sempra from $87.00 to $96.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 7th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Sempra has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $91.60.

Insider Buying and Selling at Sempra

In other Sempra news, VP Trevor I. Mihalik sold 23,713 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, November 20th. The stock was 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 trade represents a 67.94 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. 0.24% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.