Baker Tilly Wealth Management LLC Buys 1,436 Shares of Sempra (NYSE:SRE)

Baker Tilly Wealth Management LLC lifted its position in Sempra (NYSE:SRE) by 10.8% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 14,753 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,436 shares during the period. Baker Tilly Wealth Management LLC’s holdings in Sempra were worth $1,294,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of SRE. Wellington Management Group LLP lifted its holdings in shares of Sempra by 0.4% in the 3rd quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 34,324,893 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $2,870,591,000 after buying an additional 128,847 shares during the period. State Street Corp grew its holdings in Sempra by 4.9% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 32,940,620 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $2,774,974,000 after acquiring an additional 1,539,026 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC raised its holdings in shares of Sempra by 9.1% in the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 18,978,605 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,587,181,000 after purchasing an additional 1,582,653 shares in the last quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC lifted its position in shares of Sempra by 6.9% in 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. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Sempra by 1.2% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 12,761,872 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,063,007,000 after purchasing an additional 145,873 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 89.65% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have issued reports on SRE. Morgan Stanley raised Sempra from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and increased their target price for the company from $85.00 to $98.00 in a research report on Friday, December 13th. Jefferies Financial Group assumed coverage on Sempra in a research report on Thursday, October 24th. They set a “buy” rating and a $98.00 price objective on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on shares of Sempra from $87.00 to $96.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, November 7th. Bank of America started coverage on shares of Sempra in a research report on Thursday, September 12th. They set a “buy” rating and a $94.00 price target for the company. Finally, Barclays lifted their price objective on shares of Sempra from $89.00 to $99.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, December 2nd. One research 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.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $91.60.

Sempra Stock Performance

SRE traded down $2.93 on Friday, reaching $79.89. 1,342,256 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 3,310,371. Sempra has a fifty-two week low of $66.40 and a fifty-two week high of $95.77. The firm has a market capitalization of $50.60 billion, a PE ratio of 17.60, a PEG ratio of 2.45 and a beta of 0.78. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.89, a current ratio of 0.52 and a quick ratio of 0.47. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $89.06 and its 200 day moving average price is $83.58.

Sempra (NYSE:SRE) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, November 6th. The utilities provider reported $0.89 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.05 by ($0.16). Sempra had a return on equity of 8.06% and a net margin of 22.63%. The business had revenue of $2.78 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.54 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $1.08 EPS. Sempra’s quarterly revenue was down 16.7% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Sempra will post 4.76 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Sempra Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, January 15th. Investors of record on Thursday, December 5th will be given a dividend of $0.62 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, December 5th. This represents a $2.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.10%. Sempra’s dividend payout ratio is presently 54.63%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Sempra

In other news, VP Trevor I. Mihalik sold 23,713 shares of Sempra stock in a transaction that occurred 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 transaction, the vice president now directly owns 11,190 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,041,677.10. The trade was a 67.94 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. 0.27% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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.