Petra Financial Advisors Inc. Makes New Investment in Sempra (NYSE:SRE)

Petra Financial Advisors Inc. acquired a new stake in Sempra (NYSE:SRE) during the third quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm acquired 7,538 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $630,000.

A number of other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in SRE. Eastern Bank bought a new stake in Sempra during the 3rd quarter worth about $28,000. Family Firm Inc. acquired a new position in Sempra during the second quarter valued at approximately $30,000. Ashton Thomas Private Wealth LLC bought a new position in Sempra in the second quarter valued at approximately $33,000. Financial Connections Group Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Sempra during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $34,000. Finally, SouthState Corp raised its stake in shares of Sempra by 900.0% during the 2nd quarter. SouthState Corp now owns 470 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $36,000 after purchasing an additional 423 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 89.65% of the company’s stock.

Sempra Stock Performance

NYSE:SRE traded up $0.39 during mid-day trading on Thursday, hitting $83.94. 119,361 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,838,952. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.84, a quick ratio of 0.41 and a current ratio of 0.46. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $83.09 and its 200 day simple moving average is $78.47. Sempra has a fifty-two week low of $66.40 and a fifty-two week high of $86.57. The stock has a market capitalization of $53.15 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.85, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.69 and a beta of 0.75.

Sempra (NYSE:SRE) last announced its 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). Sempra had a net margin of 22.31% and a return on equity of 8.58%. The business had revenue of $3.01 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.46 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.94 EPS. The company’s revenue was down 9.7% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Sempra will post 4.78 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Sempra Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, October 15th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, September 26th were given a $0.62 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, September 26th. This represents a $2.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.95%. Sempra’s payout ratio is 52.99%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts recently weighed in on the stock. BMO Capital Markets raised their target price on shares of Sempra from $93.00 to $96.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, October 21st. Evercore ISI boosted their price objective on shares of Sempra from $83.00 to $84.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 7th. Morgan Stanley upped their target price on shares of Sempra from $80.00 to $85.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday, September 25th. Bank of America assumed coverage on Sempra in a report on Thursday, September 12th. They set a “buy” rating and a $94.00 price target for the company. Finally, Barclays upped their price objective on Sempra from $87.00 to $89.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 1st. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has issued a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $87.55.

Sempra Company 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.