Sempra (NYSE:SRE) Shares Bought by Greenwood Capital Associates LLC

Greenwood Capital Associates LLC grew its position in shares of Sempra (NYSE:SRE) by 1.2% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 14,079 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 165 shares during the quarter. Greenwood Capital Associates LLC’s holdings in Sempra were worth $1,235,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Mather Group LLC. increased its position in Sempra by 39.1% during the fourth quarter. Mather Group LLC. now owns 1,029 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $90,000 after buying an additional 289 shares during the period. Longboard Asset Management LP acquired a new position in shares of Sempra in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $213,000. abrdn plc raised its stake in shares of Sempra by 8.2% during the fourth quarter. abrdn plc now owns 328,840 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $28,716,000 after purchasing an additional 25,054 shares during the last quarter. Jennison Associates LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Sempra by 8.5% during the fourth quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 1,997,542 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $175,224,000 after purchasing an additional 156,666 shares during the period. Finally, Rice Partnership LLC grew its position in Sempra by 6.2% in the 4th quarter. Rice Partnership LLC now owns 40,370 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $3,541,000 after buying an additional 2,358 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 89.65% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts have commented on SRE shares. Evercore ISI upped their price objective on shares of Sempra from $84.00 to $88.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 7th. Jefferies Financial Group assumed coverage on shares of Sempra in a research report on Thursday, October 24th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $98.00 price objective for the company. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on 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 raised their price target on Sempra from $93.00 to $96.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, October 21st. Finally, Morgan Stanley raised Sempra from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and upped their price objective for the stock from $85.00 to $98.00 in a report on Friday, December 13th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $91.20.

Insider Activity at Sempra

In related news, VP Trevor I. Mihalik sold 23,713 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, November 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $93.09, for a total value of $2,207,443.17. Following the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 11,190 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,041,677.10. This trade represents a 67.94 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CEO Jeffrey W. Martin sold 49,737 shares of Sempra stock in a transaction on Thursday, January 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $82.94, for a total value of $4,125,186.78. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 2 shares in the company, valued at $165.88. The trade was a 100.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.27% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Sempra Stock Down 1.2 %

Sempra stock opened at $81.56 on Tuesday. Sempra has a fifty-two week low of $66.40 and a fifty-two week high of $95.77. The firm has a market capitalization of $51.66 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.97, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.11 and a beta of 0.78. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $86.60 and its two-hundred day moving average is $84.41. 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 issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, November 6th. The utilities provider reported $0.89 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.05 by ($0.16). The business had revenue of $2.78 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.54 billion. Sempra had a net margin of 22.63% and a return on equity of 8.06%. Sempra’s revenue was down 16.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $1.08 earnings per share. Analysts predict that Sempra will post 4.77 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Sempra Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, January 15th. Investors of record on Thursday, December 5th were given a dividend of $0.62 per share. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, December 5th. This represents a $2.48 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.04%. Sempra’s dividend payout ratio is currently 54.63%.

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.