Spinnaker Investment Group LLC Purchases New Holdings in Sempra (NYSE:SRE)

Spinnaker Investment Group LLC acquired a new position in Sempra (NYSE:SRE) in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm acquired 19,031 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $1,669,000. Sempra comprises about 0.4% of Spinnaker Investment Group LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 22nd largest holding.

Other large investors have also modified their holdings of the company. AE Wealth Management LLC increased its stake in Sempra by 41.0% in the 2nd quarter. AE Wealth Management LLC now owns 7,347 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $559,000 after buying an additional 2,136 shares during the period. Evergreen Capital Management LLC increased its position in shares of Sempra by 14.0% during the second quarter. Evergreen Capital Management LLC now owns 7,792 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $598,000 after acquiring an additional 957 shares during the period. Fred Alger Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Sempra by 4.2% during the second quarter. Fred Alger Management LLC now owns 45,025 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $3,425,000 after acquiring an additional 1,808 shares in the last quarter. Point72 Asia Singapore Pte. Ltd. purchased a new stake in shares of Sempra in the second quarter valued at approximately $199,000. Finally, Caxton Associates LP bought a new position in Sempra in the second quarter worth approximately $201,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 89.65% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

SRE has been the subject of several research reports. Morgan Stanley upgraded Sempra from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and upped their target price for the stock from $85.00 to $98.00 in a report on Friday, December 13th. Evercore ISI upped their price objective on shares of Sempra from $84.00 to $88.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 7th. Barclays raised their target price on shares of Sempra from $89.00 to $99.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, December 2nd. Jefferies Financial Group started coverage on shares of Sempra in a research report on Thursday, October 24th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $98.00 price target for the company. Finally, BMO Capital Markets increased their price objective on shares of Sempra from $93.00 to $96.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, October 21st. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating and ten have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Sempra presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $91.60.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, VP Trevor I. Mihalik sold 23,713 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, November 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $93.09, for a total value of $2,207,443.17. Following the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 11,190 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,041,677.10. This represents a 67.94 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 0.24% of the company’s stock.

Sempra Stock Performance

Shares of SRE stock opened at $82.88 on Friday. Sempra has a 12-month low of $66.40 and a 12-month high of $95.77. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $88.06 and its 200-day simple moving average is $84.05. 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 company has a market cap of $52.50 billion, a PE ratio of 18.26, a PEG ratio of 2.10 and a beta of 0.78.

Sempra (NYSE:SRE) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, November 6th. The utilities provider reported $0.89 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate 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 company’s quarterly revenue was down 16.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $1.08 earnings per share. Analysts expect that Sempra will post 4.77 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Sempra Announces Dividend

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