Sempra (NYSE:SRE) Shares Acquired by Financial Management Professionals Inc.

Financial Management Professionals Inc. increased its position in Sempra (NYSE:SRE) by 13.8% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 7,187 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 869 shares during the period. Financial Management Professionals Inc.’s holdings in Sempra were worth $630,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

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

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have issued reports on SRE. Wells Fargo & Company raised 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. Jefferies Financial Group started coverage on Sempra in a research report on Thursday, October 24th. They set a “buy” rating and a $98.00 price objective for the company. BMO Capital Markets raised their target price on Sempra from $93.00 to $96.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, October 21st. Morgan Stanley raised shares of Sempra from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and boosted their target price for the company from $85.00 to $98.00 in a research note on Friday, December 13th. Finally, Barclays raised their target price on Sempra from $89.00 to $99.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, December 2nd. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $91.60.

Sempra Stock Up 1.5 %

SRE opened at $85.24 on Friday. Sempra has a twelve month low of $66.40 and a twelve month high of $95.77. The firm has a market cap of $53.99 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.77, a PEG ratio of 2.00 and a beta of 0.78. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $88.50 and its 200-day simple moving average is $83.80. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.89, a quick ratio of 0.47 and a current ratio of 0.52.

Sempra (NYSE:SRE) last released its earnings results 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 firm had revenue of $2.78 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.54 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $1.08 EPS. The company’s revenue was down 16.7% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts anticipate that Sempra will post 4.77 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Sempra Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, January 15th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, December 5th were given a $0.62 dividend. This represents a $2.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.91%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, December 5th. Sempra’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 54.63%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Sempra

In other Sempra news, VP Trevor I. Mihalik sold 23,713 shares of the 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 transaction, the vice president now owns 11,190 shares in the company, valued at $1,041,677.10. This represents a 67.94 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 0.27% of the company’s stock.

Sempra 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.