Jackson Square Capital LLC Buys 717 Shares of Sempra (NYSE:SRE)

Jackson Square Capital LLC grew its stake in Sempra (NYSE:SRE) by 16.2% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 5,155 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 717 shares during the period. Jackson Square Capital LLC’s holdings in Sempra were worth $452,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Eastern Bank bought a new stake in shares of Sempra during the third quarter worth approximately $28,000. Hollencrest Capital Management grew its holdings in Sempra by 250.0% during the third quarter. Hollencrest Capital Management now owns 378 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $32,000 after purchasing an additional 270 shares during the period. ST Germain D J Co. Inc. grew its holdings in 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 purchasing an additional 300 shares during the period. LRI Investments LLC grew its holdings in Sempra by 180.4% during the third quarter. LRI Investments LLC now owns 443 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $40,000 after purchasing an additional 285 shares during the period. Finally, Mather Group LLC. grew its holdings in Sempra by 35.5% during the third quarter. Mather Group LLC. now owns 740 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $62,000 after purchasing an additional 194 shares during the period. 89.65% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Sempra Price Performance

Shares of SRE opened at $85.24 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $53.99 billion, a PE ratio of 18.77, a PEG ratio of 2.00 and a beta of 0.78. The company’s 50-day moving average is $88.50 and its 200-day moving average is $83.80. 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 current ratio of 0.52 and a quick ratio of 0.47.

Sempra (NYSE:SRE) last issued its quarterly earnings data 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 company had revenue of $2.78 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate 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% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $1.08 earnings per share. Equities analysts forecast that Sempra will post 4.77 EPS for the current year.

Sempra Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, January 15th. Investors of record on Thursday, December 5th were paid a $0.62 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, December 5th. This represents a $2.48 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.91%. Sempra’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 54.63%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, VP Trevor I. Mihalik sold 23,713 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, November 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $93.09, for a total value of $2,207,443.17. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now owns 11,190 shares in the company, valued at $1,041,677.10. This trade represents a 67.94 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 0.27% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

SRE has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on shares of Sempra from $87.00 to $96.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, November 7th. Evercore ISI upped their price target on shares of Sempra from $84.00 to $88.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, November 7th. Barclays upped their price target on shares of Sempra from $89.00 to $99.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, December 2nd. BMO Capital Markets increased their target price on shares of Sempra from $93.00 to $96.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, October 21st. Finally, Morgan Stanley upgraded shares of Sempra from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and increased their target price for the stock from $85.00 to $98.00 in a report on Friday, December 13th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $91.60.

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.