Nicolet Advisory Services LLC Takes $200,000 Position in Sempra (NYSE:SRE)

Nicolet Advisory Services LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Sempra (NYSE:SRE) during the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor acquired 2,429 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $200,000.

A number of other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of SRE. Eastern Bank purchased a new position in shares of Sempra in the 3rd quarter valued at $28,000. Family Firm Inc. bought a new stake in Sempra during the second quarter valued at about $30,000. Hollencrest Capital Management grew its stake in Sempra by 250.0% in 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. Ashton Thomas Private Wealth LLC bought a new position in Sempra in the second quarter worth about $33,000. Finally, Financial Connections Group Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Sempra during the second quarter valued at about $34,000. Institutional investors own 89.65% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on SRE. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on shares of Sempra from $87.00 to $96.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 7th. BMO Capital Markets lifted their price target on shares of Sempra from $93.00 to $96.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, October 21st. Barclays upped their price target on Sempra from $87.00 to $89.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 1st. Jefferies Financial Group started coverage on Sempra in a research report on Thursday, October 24th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $98.00 price objective for the company. Finally, Morgan Stanley boosted their target price on Sempra from $80.00 to $85.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, September 25th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has given a hold rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $89.00.

Insider Activity at Sempra

In other Sempra news, VP Trevor I. Mihalik sold 23,713 shares of Sempra stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, November 20th. The stock was 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 owns 11,190 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,041,677.10. This trade represents a 67.94 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. 0.24% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Sempra Stock Performance

Shares of SRE stock opened at $94.27 on Monday. The business has a fifty day moving average of $85.66 and a 200 day moving average of $80.73. Sempra has a 1 year low of $66.40 and a 1 year high of $95.29. 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 firm has a market capitalization of $59.71 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.76, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.60 and a beta of 0.75.

Sempra (NYSE:SRE) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, November 6th. The utilities provider reported $0.89 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.05 by ($0.16). The firm had revenue of $2.78 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.54 billion. Sempra had a return on equity of 8.06% and a net margin of 22.63%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 16.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $1.08 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts expect that Sempra will post 4.77 earnings per share for the current year.

Sempra Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, January 15th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, December 5th will be issued a $0.62 dividend. This represents a $2.48 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.63%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, December 5th. Sempra’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 54.63%.

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.