Steward Partners Investment Advisory LLC Has $1.49 Million Stock Holdings in Sempra (NYSE:SRE)

Steward Partners Investment Advisory LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Sempra (NYSE:SRE - Free Report) by 77.0% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 17,011 shares of the utilities provider's stock after buying an additional 7,402 shares during the period. Steward Partners Investment Advisory LLC's holdings in Sempra were worth $1,492,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of SRE. QRG Capital Management Inc. lifted its stake in Sempra by 11.2% in the third quarter. QRG Capital Management Inc. now owns 5,871 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $491,000 after buying an additional 589 shares during the last quarter. Hollencrest Capital Management increased its holdings in shares of Sempra by 250.0% in the 3rd quarter. Hollencrest Capital Management now owns 378 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $32,000 after acquiring an additional 270 shares during the period. SpiderRock Advisors LLC lifted its position in Sempra by 4.8% in the 3rd quarter. SpiderRock Advisors LLC now owns 10,253 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $857,000 after purchasing an additional 472 shares during the last quarter. Assetmark Inc. boosted its stake in Sempra by 3.2% during the 3rd quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 423,940 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $35,454,000 after purchasing an additional 12,966 shares during the period. Finally, Atria Investments Inc boosted its stake in Sempra by 6.4% during the 3rd quarter. Atria Investments Inc now owns 47,986 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $4,013,000 after purchasing an additional 2,888 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 89.65% of the company's stock.

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Insider Buying and Selling at Sempra

In other Sempra news, SVP Alexander Lisa Larroque sold 2,755 shares of Sempra stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $81.93, for a total transaction of $225,717.15. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 13,905 shares of the company's stock, valued at $1,139,236.65. The trade was a 16.54 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Jeffrey W. Martin sold 49,737 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Thursday, January 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $82.94, for a total value of $4,125,186.78. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 2 shares in the company, valued at $165.88. This represents a 100.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 0.27% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts have recently weighed in on SRE shares. BMO Capital Markets cut their price target on Sempra from $92.00 to $78.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, March 4th. Guggenheim decreased their target price on shares of Sempra from $95.00 to $87.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, February 26th. Jefferies Financial Group reiterated a "hold" rating and issued a $77.00 price objective (down from $96.00) on shares of Sempra in a report on Monday, March 3rd. The Goldman Sachs Group cut Sempra from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating and dropped their target price for the stock from $99.00 to $76.00 in a report on Wednesday, February 26th. Finally, UBS Group lowered Sempra from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating and decreased their price target for the company from $95.00 to $78.00 in a research note on Wednesday, February 26th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $81.50.

Sempra Trading Up 0.5 %

Shares of Sempra stock traded up $0.34 on Wednesday, reaching $69.13. 388,985 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 5,555,007. Sempra has a fifty-two week low of $64.89 and a fifty-two week high of $95.77. The firm has a market capitalization of $45.04 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.24, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.19 and a beta of 0.76. The company has a current ratio of 0.52, a quick ratio of 0.47 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.89. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $80.68 and a 200-day moving average price of $84.27.

Sempra (NYSE:SRE - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 25th. The utilities provider reported $1.50 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $1.47 by $0.03. The firm had revenue of $3.76 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $4.73 billion. Sempra had a return on equity of 8.06% and a net margin of 22.63%. Sempra's revenue was up 7.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $1.13 EPS. On average, analysts expect that Sempra will post 4.76 EPS for the current year.

Sempra Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 15th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, March 20th will be given a dividend of $0.645 per share. This represents a $2.58 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.73%. This is a boost from Sempra's previous quarterly dividend of $0.62. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, March 20th. Sempra's payout ratio is presently 58.37%.

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.