Marion Wealth Management Boosts Stake in Sempra (NYSE:SRE)

Marion Wealth Management raised its holdings in shares of Sempra (NYSE:SRE) by 1.5% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 13,781 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after buying an additional 210 shares during the period. Marion Wealth Management’s holdings in Sempra were worth $1,209,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the business. FMR LLC grew its stake in Sempra by 9.1% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 18,978,605 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,587,181,000 after purchasing an additional 1,582,653 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp lifted its holdings in shares of Sempra by 4.9% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 32,940,620 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $2,774,974,000 after buying an additional 1,539,026 shares during the period. Clearbridge Investments LLC grew its position in shares of Sempra by 6.9% during the 2nd quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC now owns 13,452,912 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,023,228,000 after buying an additional 874,133 shares in the last quarter. National Bank of Canada FI increased its stake in shares of Sempra by 201.2% during the third quarter. National Bank of Canada FI now owns 620,394 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $51,882,000 after buying an additional 414,406 shares during the period. Finally, Unigestion Holding SA purchased a new position in shares of Sempra during the third quarter valued at $33,023,000. Institutional investors own 89.65% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research analysts have commented on the stock. Jefferies Financial Group began coverage on shares of Sempra in a research report on Thursday, October 24th. They set a “buy” rating and a $98.00 target price on the stock. BMO Capital Markets lifted their price objective on shares of Sempra from $93.00 to $96.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, October 21st. Barclays upped their target price on Sempra from $89.00 to $99.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, December 2nd. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price target on Sempra from $87.00 to $96.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, November 7th. Finally, Evercore ISI upped their price objective on Sempra from $84.00 to $88.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 7th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $91.60.

Sempra Stock Performance

Shares of Sempra stock traded down $1.73 on Monday, reaching $77.00. 9,327,622 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 5,172,295. Sempra has a twelve month low of $66.40 and a twelve month high of $95.77. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $89.01 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $83.71. The company has a quick ratio of 0.47, a current ratio of 0.52 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.89. The firm has a market capitalization of $48.77 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.96, a PEG ratio of 2.45 and a beta of 0.78.

Sempra (NYSE:SRE) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, November 6th. The utilities provider reported $0.89 earnings per share 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 return on equity of 8.06% and a net margin of 22.63%. The firm’s revenue was down 16.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $1.08 EPS. Analysts anticipate that Sempra will post 4.76 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Sempra Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, January 15th. Investors of record on Thursday, December 5th will be issued a dividend of $0.62 per share. This represents a $2.48 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.22%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, December 5th. Sempra’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 54.63%.

Insider Activity at Sempra

In other news, VP Trevor I. Mihalik sold 23,713 shares of Sempra stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, November 20th. The shares were 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 directly owns 11,190 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,041,677.10. The trade was a 67.94 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. 0.24% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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.