Williams & Novak LLC Invests $386,000 in Sempra (NYSE:SRE)

Williams & Novak LLC purchased a new position in Sempra (NYSE:SRE) during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund purchased 4,405 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $386,000.

Several other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of SRE. FMR LLC lifted its stake in shares of 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 buying an additional 1,582,653 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp lifted its position in Sempra by 4.9% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 32,940,620 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $2,774,974,000 after acquiring an additional 1,539,026 shares in the last quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC lifted its position in Sempra by 6.9% in the 2nd quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC now owns 13,452,912 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,023,228,000 after acquiring an additional 874,133 shares in the last quarter. National Bank of Canada FI boosted its stake in Sempra by 201.2% during the 3rd quarter. National Bank of Canada FI now owns 620,394 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $51,882,000 after purchasing an additional 414,406 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Unigestion Holding SA bought a new stake in shares of Sempra in the 3rd quarter worth $33,023,000. 89.65% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Sempra Stock Performance

Sempra stock opened at $81.76 on Wednesday. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $87.51 and its 200-day moving average price is $84.25. 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 company has a market cap of $51.78 billion, a PE ratio of 18.01, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.10 and a beta of 0.78. Sempra has a twelve month low of $66.40 and a twelve month high of $95.77.

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 for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.54 billion. Sempra had a return on equity of 8.06% and a net margin of 22.63%. The company’s revenue was down 16.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $1.08 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Sempra will post 4.77 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Sempra Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, January 15th. Investors of record on Thursday, December 5th were issued a dividend of $0.62 per share. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, December 5th. This represents a $2.48 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.03%. Sempra’s payout ratio is 54.63%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on SRE. Morgan Stanley raised Sempra from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and upped their price target for the company from $85.00 to $98.00 in a report on Friday, December 13th. BMO Capital Markets upped their target price on shares of Sempra from $93.00 to $96.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, October 21st. Evercore ISI lifted their price target on shares of Sempra from $84.00 to $88.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 7th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on shares of Sempra from $87.00 to $96.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 7th. Finally, Barclays dropped their target price on shares of Sempra from $99.00 to $95.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Monday. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $91.20.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Sempra news, VP Trevor I. Mihalik sold 23,713 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, November 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $93.09, for a total value of $2,207,443.17. Following the sale, 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 ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. 0.24% of the stock is currently owned by corporate 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.