Sempra (NYSE:SRE) Stake Boosted by Daymark Wealth Partners LLC

Daymark Wealth Partners LLC increased its position in shares of Sempra (NYSE:SRE) by 3.8% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 5,822 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after buying an additional 212 shares during the quarter. Daymark Wealth Partners LLC’s holdings in Sempra were worth $511,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of SRE. Eastern Bank acquired a new position in Sempra in the 3rd quarter worth about $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 worth $32,000 after buying an additional 270 shares during the last quarter. ST Germain D J Co. Inc. raised its position in Sempra by 225.6% during the fourth quarter. ST Germain D J Co. Inc. now owns 433 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $38,000 after acquiring an additional 300 shares in the last quarter. LRI Investments LLC lifted its stake in Sempra by 180.4% in the third quarter. LRI Investments LLC now owns 443 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $40,000 after acquiring an additional 285 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Mather Group LLC. grew its position in Sempra by 35.5% in the third quarter. Mather Group LLC. now owns 740 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $62,000 after acquiring an additional 194 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 89.65% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Barclays raised their price target on shares of Sempra from $89.00 to $99.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, December 2nd. Jefferies Financial Group assumed coverage on Sempra in a research report on Thursday, October 24th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $98.00 price target for the company. Morgan Stanley raised Sempra from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and increased their price objective for the company from $85.00 to $98.00 in a report on Friday, December 13th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on Sempra from $87.00 to $96.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, November 7th. Finally, Evercore ISI increased their price target on Sempra from $84.00 to $88.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a 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’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Sempra currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $91.60.

Sempra Stock Up 0.1 %

Shares of SRE stock opened at $82.88 on Friday. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $88.06 and a 200 day moving average price of $84.05. The stock has a market cap of $52.50 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.26, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.20 and a beta of 0.78. Sempra has a one year low of $66.40 and a one 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 announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, November 6th. The utilities provider reported $0.89 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.05 by ($0.16). Sempra had a net margin of 22.63% and a return on equity of 8.06%. The company had revenue of $2.78 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.54 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $1.08 EPS. Sempra’s quarterly revenue was down 16.7% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts predict that Sempra will post 4.77 earnings per share for the current year.

Sempra Announces Dividend

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

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Sempra news, VP Trevor I. Mihalik sold 23,713 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, November 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $93.09, for a total value of $2,207,443.17. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 11,190 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,041,677.10. The trade was a 67.94 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Insiders own 0.24% of the company’s stock.

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.