Confluence Wealth Services Inc. Invests $211,000 in Sempra (NYSE:SRE)

Confluence Wealth Services Inc. purchased a new stake in Sempra (NYSE:SRE) during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund purchased 2,518 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $211,000.

Several other large investors have also modified their holdings of SRE. Perennial Investment Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of Sempra by 2.8% in the 2nd quarter. Perennial Investment Advisors LLC now owns 4,963 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $377,000 after acquiring an additional 134 shares during the period. Transcend Capital Advisors LLC increased its position in Sempra by 2.8% during the 2nd quarter. Transcend Capital Advisors LLC now owns 4,983 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $379,000 after purchasing an additional 136 shares during the period. Marcum Wealth LLC increased its position in Sempra by 3.5% during the 2nd quarter. Marcum Wealth LLC now owns 4,019 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $306,000 after purchasing an additional 137 shares during the period. Private Advisor Group LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Sempra by 1.6% in the 3rd quarter. Private Advisor Group LLC now owns 8,742 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $731,000 after buying an additional 139 shares during the period. Finally, SeaCrest Wealth Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Sempra by 4.0% in the second quarter. SeaCrest Wealth Management LLC now owns 3,794 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $289,000 after buying an additional 147 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 89.65% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have recently weighed in on SRE shares. Bank of America assumed coverage on shares of Sempra in a research note on Thursday, September 12th. They set a “buy” rating and a $94.00 price target on the stock. Evercore ISI increased their target price on shares of Sempra from $83.00 to $84.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, August 7th. Jefferies Financial Group initiated coverage on Sempra in a research note on Thursday, October 24th. They set a “buy” rating and a $98.00 price target on the stock. BMO Capital Markets raised their price objective on Sempra from $93.00 to $96.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, October 21st. Finally, Morgan Stanley upped their target price on Sempra from $80.00 to $85.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday, September 25th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has assigned a hold rating and ten have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Sempra presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $87.55.

Sempra Stock Performance

Shares of SRE stock opened at $80.81 on Tuesday. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $83.11 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $78.85. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.84, a current ratio of 0.46 and a quick ratio of 0.41. The firm has a market capitalization of $51.16 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.27, a P/E/G ratio of 2.66 and a beta of 0.75. Sempra has a 12 month low of $66.40 and a 12 month high of $86.57.

Sempra (NYSE:SRE) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, August 6th. The utilities provider reported $0.89 earnings per share 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 for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.46 billion. Sempra’s revenue for the quarter was down 9.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $0.94 EPS. On average, research analysts anticipate that Sempra will post 4.77 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Sempra Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, October 15th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, September 26th were issued a dividend of $0.62 per share. This represents a $2.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.07%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, September 26th. Sempra’s dividend payout ratio is presently 52.99%.

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.