Summit Global Investments Purchases New Position in Sempra (NYSE:SRE)

Summit Global Investments purchased a new position in shares of Sempra (NYSE:SRE - Free Report) in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm purchased 32,089 shares of the utilities provider's stock, valued at approximately $2,684,000.

Other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. M&G Plc purchased a new stake in Sempra in the 1st quarter valued at $64,994,000. Clearbridge Investments LLC increased its position in shares of Sempra by 6.9% in the second quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC now owns 13,452,912 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $1,023,228,000 after buying an additional 874,133 shares in the last quarter. Zimmer Partners LP boosted its position in shares of Sempra by 96.9% in the 1st quarter. Zimmer Partners LP now owns 1,636,202 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $117,528,000 after buying an additional 805,084 shares in the last quarter. Jupiter Asset Management Ltd. acquired a new stake in Sempra in the 1st quarter valued at about $42,630,000. Finally, Swedbank AB purchased a new position in Sempra during the 1st quarter valued at about $27,338,000. 89.65% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have recently commented on SRE. Bank of America started coverage on shares of Sempra in a research note on Thursday, September 12th. They set a "buy" rating and a $94.00 price objective for the company. Jefferies Financial Group assumed coverage on Sempra in a research note on Thursday, October 24th. They issued a "buy" rating and a $98.00 price target for the company. Barclays lifted their target price on Sempra from $87.00 to $89.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 1st. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on shares of Sempra from $87.00 to $96.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Thursday. Finally, BMO Capital Markets increased their target price on shares of Sempra from $93.00 to $96.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Monday, October 21st. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has given a hold rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $89.00.

Sempra Stock Up 2.0 %

Sempra stock traded up $1.83 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $91.59. The company had a trading volume of 1,964,326 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,887,472. The firm has a market capitalization of $57.99 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.22, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.82 and a beta of 0.75. Sempra has a fifty-two week low of $66.40 and a fifty-two week high of $91.88. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.86, a current ratio of 0.52 and a quick ratio of 0.41. The firm's fifty day moving average is $83.26 and its 200-day moving average is $79.00.

Sempra (NYSE:SRE - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, November 6th. The utilities provider reported $0.89 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.06 by ($0.17). The business had revenue of $2.78 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.54 billion. Sempra had a return on equity of 8.01% and a net margin of 22.63%. The company's quarterly revenue was down 16.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $1.08 earnings per share. On average, research analysts forecast that Sempra will post 4.77 earnings per share for the current year.

Sempra Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, January 15th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, December 5th will be given a $0.62 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, December 5th. This represents a $2.48 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.71%. Sempra's dividend payout ratio is 54.63%.

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.