Sempra (NYSE:SRE) Holdings Cut by Portfolio Design Labs LLC

Portfolio Design Labs LLC reduced its stake in Sempra (NYSE:SRE) by 53.5% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 20,183 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 23,225 shares during the period. Portfolio Design Labs LLC’s holdings in Sempra were worth $1,688,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in SRE. Edgestream Partners L.P. increased its position in Sempra by 263.1% in the first quarter. Edgestream Partners L.P. now owns 11,623 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $835,000 after buying an additional 8,422 shares during the period. O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC boosted its stake in Sempra by 11.9% during the 1st quarter. O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC now owns 29,857 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $2,145,000 after purchasing an additional 3,165 shares during the period. Bessemer Group Inc. grew its position in Sempra by 8.3% in the 1st quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. now owns 9,034 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $649,000 after purchasing an additional 690 shares during the last quarter. Lake Street Advisors Group LLC grew its position in Sempra by 26.5% in the 1st quarter. Lake Street Advisors Group LLC now owns 3,874 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $281,000 after purchasing an additional 811 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Pitcairn Co. increased its stake in shares of Sempra by 20.5% in the first quarter. Pitcairn Co. now owns 3,537 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $254,000 after purchasing an additional 601 shares during the period. 89.65% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages have recently issued reports on SRE. Evercore ISI boosted their price objective on Sempra from $84.00 to $88.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 7th. Morgan Stanley boosted their price target on Sempra from $80.00 to $85.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, September 25th. Barclays raised their price target on Sempra from $87.00 to $89.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 1st. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on shares of Sempra from $87.00 to $96.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, November 7th. Finally, Bank of America assumed coverage on shares of Sempra in a research report on Thursday, September 12th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $94.00 target price for the company. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has given a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Sempra currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $89.00.

Sempra Stock Performance

Shares of SRE opened at $93.37 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.89, a current ratio of 0.52 and a quick ratio of 0.47. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $84.94 and its 200-day moving average is $80.30. Sempra has a 12-month low of $66.40 and a 12-month high of $93.44. The stock has a market capitalization of $59.14 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.57, a P/E/G ratio of 2.53 and a beta of 0.75.

Sempra (NYSE:SRE) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, November 6th. The utilities provider reported $0.89 earnings per share (EPS) 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 quarterly revenue was down 16.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $1.08 EPS. Equities research analysts anticipate that Sempra will post 4.77 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Sempra Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, January 15th. Investors of record on Thursday, December 5th will be paid a $0.62 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, December 5th. This represents a $2.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.66%. 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.