Fortem Financial Group LLC Grows Position in Sempra (NYSE:SRE)

Fortem Financial Group LLC grew its position in shares of Sempra (NYSE:SRE) by 3.8% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 5,037 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after buying an additional 184 shares during the quarter. Fortem Financial Group LLC’s holdings in Sempra were worth $442,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of SRE. Pensionfund Sabic boosted its holdings in shares of Sempra by 30.5% in the 4th quarter. Pensionfund Sabic now owns 21,400 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,877,000 after buying an additional 5,000 shares during the last quarter. Centre Asset Management LLC boosted its stake in Sempra by 7.7% in the fourth quarter. Centre Asset Management LLC now owns 4,828 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $424,000 after acquiring an additional 346 shares during the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC grew its holdings in Sempra by 7.7% during the fourth quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 13,341 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,170,000 after purchasing an additional 950 shares during the period. Versant Capital Management Inc grew its stake in shares of Sempra by 126.1% during the 4th quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 1,006 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $88,000 after acquiring an additional 561 shares during the period. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its position in Sempra by 8.8% during the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 3,428,132 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $286,695,000 after purchasing an additional 278,183 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 89.65% of the company’s stock.

Sempra Price Performance

SRE traded down $3.25 on Monday, reaching $84.42. The company had a trading volume of 1,560,281 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,194,267. Sempra has a 52-week low of $66.40 and a 52-week high of $95.77. The company has a market cap of $53.47 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.59, a P/E/G ratio of 2.45 and a beta of 0.78. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.89, a quick ratio of 0.47 and a current ratio of 0.52. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $89.10 and a 200 day simple moving average of $83.47.

Sempra (NYSE:SRE) last posted 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). Sempra had a net margin of 22.63% and a return on equity of 8.06%. The company had revenue of $2.78 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.54 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $1.08 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was down 16.7% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Sempra will post 4.76 EPS for the current year.

Sempra Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, January 15th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, December 5th will be given a dividend of $0.62 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, December 5th. This represents a $2.48 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.94%. Sempra’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 54.63%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

SRE has been the topic of a number of recent research 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 research note on Thursday, November 7th. Bank of America assumed coverage on Sempra in a report on Thursday, September 12th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $94.00 price target for the company. Evercore ISI boosted their price objective on Sempra from $84.00 to $88.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 7th. Barclays increased their price objective on Sempra from $89.00 to $99.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, December 2nd. Finally, BMO Capital Markets lifted their target price on Sempra from $93.00 to $96.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, October 21st. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating and ten have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $91.60.

Insider Activity at Sempra

In other news, VP Trevor I. Mihalik sold 23,713 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction 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 sale, the vice president now owns 11,190 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,041,677.10. This represents a 67.94 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. 0.24% of the stock is currently owned by 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.