Richardson Financial Services Inc. Takes Position in Sempra (NYSE:SRE)

Richardson Financial Services Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Sempra (NYSE:SRE) during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm purchased 2,365 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $177,000.

Several other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Sempra by 101.8% in the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 62,117,948 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $4,225,884,000 after acquiring an additional 31,334,782 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of Sempra in the 4th quarter worth $958,253,000. Wellington Management Group LLP grew its holdings in shares of Sempra by 101.4% in the 3rd quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 24,206,231 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,646,750,000 after acquiring an additional 12,184,568 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC grew its holdings in shares of Sempra by 147.0% in the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 14,360,225 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $976,926,000 after acquiring an additional 8,546,205 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Clearbridge Investments LLC grew its holdings in shares of Sempra by 109.0% in the 3rd quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC now owns 12,154,272 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $826,855,000 after acquiring an additional 6,338,545 shares during the last quarter. 89.65% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, Director Richard J. Mark purchased 1,925 shares of Sempra stock in a transaction on Friday, May 17th. The stock was bought at an average price of $77.97 per share, with a total value of $150,092.25. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 5,420 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $422,597.40. The acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Insiders own 0.24% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

SRE has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. StockNews.com cut Sempra from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 20th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on Sempra from $79.00 to $84.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 8th. Mizuho raised their target price on Sempra from $79.00 to $86.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, May 17th. Morgan Stanley raised their target price on Sempra from $74.00 to $75.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 21st. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $82.00 target price on shares of Sempra in a research report on Wednesday, March 6th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has issued a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Sempra currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $82.00.

Sempra Stock Down 0.2 %

SRE traded down $0.17 during trading on Friday, reaching $75.97. 2,666,810 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 2,763,922. The stock has a market cap of $47.87 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.83, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.64 and a beta of 0.74. Sempra has a fifty-two week low of $63.75 and a fifty-two week high of $78.83. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.87, a current ratio of 0.62 and a quick ratio of 0.57. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $73.93 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $72.83.

Sempra (NYSE:SRE) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, May 7th. The utilities provider reported $1.34 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.35 by ($0.01). Sempra had a net margin of 20.99% and a return on equity of 8.95%. The firm had revenue of $3.64 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.58 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $1.46 EPS. Sempra’s revenue for the quarter was down 44.5% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Sempra will post 4.8 EPS for the current year.

Sempra Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, July 15th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, June 27th will be given a $0.62 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, June 27th. This represents a $2.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.26%. Sempra’s dividend payout ratio is currently 54.93%.

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.