HighTower Advisors LLC Purchases 6,796 Shares of Sempra (NYSE:SRE)

HighTower Advisors LLC boosted its stake in Sempra (NYSE:SRE - Free Report) by 0.5% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 1,272,371 shares of the utilities provider's stock after purchasing an additional 6,796 shares during the period. HighTower Advisors LLC owned approximately 0.20% of Sempra worth $106,772,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in SRE. FMR LLC grew its stake in shares of Sempra by 9.1% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 18,978,605 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $1,587,181,000 after acquiring an additional 1,582,653 shares in the last quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC lifted its position in shares of Sempra by 6.9% during the second quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC now owns 13,452,912 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $1,023,228,000 after purchasing an additional 874,133 shares during the last quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA grew its stake in Sempra by 3.0% in the third quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 4,335,339 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $362,564,000 after purchasing an additional 125,833 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its stake in Sempra by 1.4% in the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 3,625,473 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $303,198,000 after purchasing an additional 48,512 shares in the last quarter. Finally, DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale grew its stake in Sempra by 2.1% in the second quarter. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale now owns 2,404,573 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $182,158,000 after purchasing an additional 48,592 shares in the last quarter. 89.65% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts recently commented on the company. Morgan Stanley lifted their price target on Sempra from $80.00 to $85.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Wednesday, September 25th. Bank of America started coverage on Sempra in a research note on Thursday, September 12th. They issued a "buy" rating and a $94.00 target price for the company. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their target price on Sempra from $87.00 to $96.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Thursday, November 7th. Evercore ISI lifted their target price on Sempra from $84.00 to $88.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Thursday, November 7th. Finally, Barclays lifted their target price on Sempra from $89.00 to $99.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Monday. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has issued a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $89.91.

Sempra Price Performance

NYSE:SRE traded down $0.52 during midday trading on Wednesday, hitting $91.50. 3,415,529 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,919,275. Sempra has a one year low of $66.40 and a one year high of $95.77. The company has a market capitalization of $57.95 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.15, a P/E/G ratio of 2.53 and a beta of 0.77. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $87.26 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $81.60. The company has a current ratio of 0.52, a quick ratio of 0.47 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.89.

Sempra (NYSE:SRE - Get Free Report) 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). Sempra had a net margin of 22.63% and a return on equity of 8.06%. The company had revenue of $2.78 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.54 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $1.08 EPS. Sempra's quarterly revenue was down 16.7% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts predict that Sempra will post 4.77 EPS for the current year.

Sempra Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, January 15th. Stockholders 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 dividend yield of 2.71%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, December 5th. Sempra's dividend payout ratio is currently 54.63%.

Insider Activity

In other Sempra news, VP Trevor I. Mihalik sold 23,713 shares of the business's stock in a transaction 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 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 legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. 0.27% 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.