Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc. Trims Stock Position in Sempra (NYSE:SRE)

Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc. reduced its position in shares of Sempra (NYSE:SRE - Free Report) by 13.2% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 48,175 shares of the utilities provider's stock after selling 7,302 shares during the quarter. Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc.'s holdings in Sempra were worth $4,226,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in SRE. Unigestion Holding SA acquired a new position in shares of Sempra during the third quarter valued at about $33,023,000. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted its position in Sempra by 8.8% in the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 3,428,132 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $286,695,000 after acquiring an additional 278,183 shares in the last quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. boosted its stake in Sempra by 1.9% during the 3rd quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 357,107 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $29,865,000 after purchasing an additional 6,709 shares during the last quarter. Kovitz Investment Group Partners LLC bought a new stake in Sempra during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $675,000. Finally, Sanctuary Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Sempra by 14.4% in the third quarter. Sanctuary Advisors LLC now owns 190,714 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $15,949,000 after purchasing an additional 23,970 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 89.65% of the company's stock.

Insider Activity at Sempra

In other news, VP Trevor I. Mihalik sold 23,713 shares of the firm's 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 completion of the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 11,190 shares of the company's stock, 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 legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. 0.27% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Sempra Stock Performance

Sempra stock traded up $1.61 during trading on Thursday, hitting $84.03. The stock had a trading volume of 7,815,639 shares, compared to its average volume of 6,040,164. 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 stock's 50 day moving average is $88.74 and its two-hundred day moving average is $83.72. Sempra has a 1 year low of $66.40 and a 1 year high of $95.77. The stock has a market cap of $53.22 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.51, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.00 and a beta of 0.78.

Sempra (NYSE:SRE - Get Free Report) last announced 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 firm had revenue of $2.78 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations 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 last year, the business posted $1.08 EPS. As a group, analysts predict that Sempra will post 4.77 EPS for the current year.

Sempra Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, January 15th. Investors of record on Thursday, December 5th were issued a $0.62 dividend. This represents a $2.48 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.95%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, December 5th. Sempra's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 54.63%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

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

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.