Cornerstone Advisors LLC Has $2.98 Million Stock Position in Sempra (NYSE:SRE)

Cornerstone Advisors LLC reduced its stake in shares of Sempra (NYSE:SRE) by 12.1% during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 39,200 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 5,400 shares during the period. Cornerstone Advisors LLC’s holdings in Sempra were worth $2,982,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Crestline Management LP raised its holdings in shares of Sempra by 14.0% in the fourth quarter. Crestline Management LP now owns 119,174 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $8,906,000 after purchasing an additional 14,674 shares during the last quarter. GSA Capital Partners LLP bought a new position in shares of Sempra in the first quarter valued at $815,000. D.A. Davidson & CO. grew its stake in shares of Sempra by 14.4% in the fourth quarter. D.A. Davidson & CO. now owns 41,202 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $3,079,000 after buying an additional 5,197 shares in the last quarter. Magnetar Financial LLC bought a new position in shares of Sempra in the first quarter valued at $2,293,000. Finally, Forsta AP Fonden grew its stake in shares of Sempra by 13.7% in the first quarter. Forsta AP Fonden now owns 117,200 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $8,418,000 after buying an additional 14,100 shares in the last quarter. 89.65% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts recently weighed in on the stock. LADENBURG THALM/SH SH decreased their target price on shares of Sempra from $81.50 to $79.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, May 29th. BMO Capital Markets boosted their target price on shares of Sempra from $90.00 to $93.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, September 12th. Barclays boosted their target price on shares of Sempra from $81.00 to $87.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 13th. Bank of America assumed coverage on shares of Sempra in a research report on Thursday, September 12th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $94.00 target price for the company. Finally, Morgan Stanley boosted their target price on shares of Sempra from $77.00 to $80.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, August 23rd. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has given a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $85.00.

Sempra Price Performance

Sempra stock opened at $83.60 on Tuesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $52.93 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.52, a PEG ratio of 2.84 and a beta of 0.75. Sempra has a 52-week low of $63.75 and a 52-week high of $84.29. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $79.86 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $75.60. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.84, a quick ratio of 0.41 and a current ratio of 0.46.

Sempra (NYSE:SRE) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, August 6th. The utilities provider reported $0.89 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.92 by ($0.03). The business had revenue of $3.01 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.46 billion. Sempra had a return on equity of 8.58% and a net margin of 22.31%. Sempra’s quarterly revenue was down 9.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.94 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts predict that Sempra will post 4.79 earnings per share for the current year.

Sempra Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, October 15th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, September 26th will be given a dividend of $0.62 per share. This represents a $2.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.97%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, September 26th. Sempra’s payout ratio is 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.