Williams & Novak LLC Buys Shares of 4,405 Sempra (NYSE:SRE)

Williams & Novak LLC purchased a new position in shares of Sempra (NYSE:SRE) during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund purchased 4,405 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $386,000.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Eastern Bank purchased a new stake in Sempra during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $28,000. Hollencrest Capital Management lifted its stake in shares of Sempra by 250.0% during the third quarter. Hollencrest Capital Management now owns 378 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $32,000 after buying an additional 270 shares during the period. ST Germain D J Co. Inc. grew 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 valued at $38,000 after buying an additional 300 shares during the last quarter. LRI Investments LLC increased 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 valued at $40,000 after acquiring an additional 285 shares during the period. Finally, Mather Group LLC. raised its stake in Sempra by 35.5% in the 3rd quarter. Mather Group LLC. now owns 740 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $62,000 after acquiring an additional 194 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 89.65% of the company’s stock.

Sempra Stock Down 0.5 %

SRE opened at $81.76 on Wednesday. The company has a fifty day moving average of $87.51 and a two-hundred day moving average of $84.25. The stock has a market capitalization of $51.78 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.01, a PEG ratio of 2.10 and a beta of 0.78. Sempra has a fifty-two week low of $66.40 and a fifty-two week high of $95.77. 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 announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, November 6th. The utilities provider reported $0.89 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.05 by ($0.16). The business had revenue of $2.78 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.54 billion. Sempra had a net margin of 22.63% and a return on equity of 8.06%. Sempra’s revenue for the quarter was down 16.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $1.08 EPS. On average, research analysts expect that Sempra will post 4.77 earnings per share for the current year.

Sempra Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, January 15th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, December 5th were given a dividend of $0.62 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, December 5th. This represents a $2.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.03%. Sempra’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 54.63%.

Insider Activity at Sempra

In other Sempra news, VP Trevor I. Mihalik sold 23,713 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 sale, the vice president now directly owns 11,190 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,041,677.10. The trade was a 67.94 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. 0.24% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts have weighed in on SRE shares. BMO Capital Markets boosted their price target on Sempra from $93.00 to $96.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, October 21st. Evercore ISI increased their price target on shares of Sempra from $84.00 to $88.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, November 7th. Morgan Stanley raised shares of Sempra from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and raised their price target for the stock from $85.00 to $98.00 in a research report on Friday, December 13th. Jefferies Financial Group initiated coverage on shares of Sempra in a report on Thursday, October 24th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $98.00 price objective on the stock. Finally, Barclays reduced their target price on shares of Sempra from $99.00 to $95.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Monday. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating and ten have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $91.20.

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.