Sempra (NYSE:SRE) Position Increased by Atria Investments Inc

Atria Investments Inc increased its stake in Sempra (NYSE:SRE) by 12.0% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 39,800 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 4,258 shares during the period. Atria Investments Inc’s holdings in Sempra were worth $2,859,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Norges Bank bought a new stake in Sempra during the 4th quarter valued at $958,253,000. Wellington Management Group LLP raised its stake in Sempra by 12.1% during the 4th quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 27,123,899 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $2,026,969,000 after acquiring an additional 2,917,668 shares in the last quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB raised its stake in Sempra by 5,279.4% during the 1st quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 1,583,816 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $113,591,000 after acquiring an additional 1,554,374 shares in the last quarter. M&G Plc bought a new stake in Sempra during the 1st quarter valued at $64,994,000. Finally, Zimmer Partners LP raised its stake in Sempra by 96.9% during the 1st quarter. Zimmer Partners LP now owns 1,636,202 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $117,528,000 after acquiring an additional 805,084 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 89.65% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In other Sempra news, Director Richard J. Mark purchased 1,925 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 17th. The shares were acquired at an average price of $77.97 per share, for a total transaction of $150,092.25. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director now owns 5,420 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $422,597.40. The acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. In other Sempra news, Director Richard J. Mark purchased 1,925 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 17th. The shares were acquired at an average price of $77.97 per share, for a total transaction of $150,092.25. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director now owns 5,420 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $422,597.40. The acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CAO Peter R. Wall sold 6,100 shares of Sempra stock in a transaction on Tuesday, June 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $75.07, for a total value of $457,927.00. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 14,751 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,107,357.57. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.24% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Sempra Price Performance

Shares of NYSE SRE traded up $0.26 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $81.74. The company had a trading volume of 2,695,386 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,744,951. The company has a current ratio of 0.62, a quick ratio of 0.57 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.87. The stock has a market cap of $51.51 billion, a PE ratio of 18.10, a P/E/G ratio of 2.83 and a beta of 0.74. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $76.60 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $73.44. Sempra has a 1-year low of $63.75 and a 1-year high of $83.68.

Sempra (NYSE:SRE) last issued its earnings results 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). The company had revenue of $3.64 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.58 billion. Sempra had a return on equity of 8.95% and a net margin of 20.99%. The business’s revenue was down 44.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $1.46 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Sempra will post 4.8 earnings per share for the current year.

Sempra Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, July 15th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, June 27th were issued a dividend of $0.62 per share. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, June 27th. This represents a $2.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.03%. Sempra’s dividend payout ratio is 54.93%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have weighed in on SRE. BMO Capital Markets cut their target price on Sempra from $86.00 to $84.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, July 10th. LADENBURG THALM/SH SH dropped their price objective on Sempra from $81.50 to $79.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, May 29th. Mizuho boosted their price objective on Sempra from $79.00 to $86.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, May 17th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on Sempra from $79.00 to $84.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 8th. Finally, Morgan Stanley dropped their price objective on Sempra from $79.00 to $76.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, June 24th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has issued a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $82.10.

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.