L & S Advisors Inc Purchases 2,939 Shares of Sempra (NYSE:SRE)

L & S Advisors Inc increased its position in Sempra (NYSE:SRE) by 10.0% during the 2nd quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 32,359 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 2,939 shares during the period. L & S Advisors Inc’s holdings in Sempra were worth $2,461,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its holdings in shares of Sempra by 0.5% during the fourth quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,371,449 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $102,488,000 after purchasing an additional 7,340 shares during the period. Brown Advisory Inc. grew its stake in Sempra by 11.7% in the fourth quarter. Brown Advisory Inc. now owns 5,638 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $421,000 after purchasing an additional 589 shares during the period. ING Groep NV raised its holdings in Sempra by 12.4% in the fourth quarter. ING Groep NV now owns 89,895 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $6,718,000 after purchasing an additional 9,923 shares in the last quarter. Dynamic Technology Lab Private Ltd lifted its position in Sempra by 35.5% during the fourth quarter. Dynamic Technology Lab Private Ltd now owns 18,337 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,370,000 after buying an additional 4,808 shares during the period. Finally, PNC Financial Services Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Sempra by 3.0% during the 4th quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 309,728 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $23,146,000 after buying an additional 9,088 shares in the last quarter. 89.65% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Sempra Stock Performance

SRE stock opened at $83.60 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.84, a current ratio of 0.46 and a quick ratio of 0.41. Sempra has a 1 year low of $63.75 and a 1 year high of $84.29. The company has a market cap of $52.93 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.52, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.84 and a beta of 0.75. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $79.86 and its 200-day moving average price is $75.60.

Sempra (NYSE:SRE) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, August 6th. The utilities provider reported $0.89 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.92 by ($0.03). Sempra had a net margin of 22.31% and a return on equity of 8.58%. The firm had revenue of $3.01 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.46 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.94 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 9.7% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts forecast that Sempra will post 4.79 earnings per share for the current year.

Sempra Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, October 15th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, September 26th will be given a $0.62 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, September 26th. This represents a $2.48 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.97%. Sempra’s payout ratio is presently 54.93%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts recently issued reports on the stock. LADENBURG THALM/SH SH decreased their price target on shares of Sempra from $81.50 to $79.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, May 29th. Evercore ISI lifted their target price on shares of Sempra from $83.00 to $84.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, August 7th. BMO Capital Markets upped their price target on Sempra from $90.00 to $93.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, September 12th. Bank of America initiated coverage on Sempra in a research report on Thursday, September 12th. They set a “buy” rating and a $94.00 price objective for the company. Finally, Barclays raised their price target on Sempra from $81.00 to $87.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 13th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has given a hold rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Sempra has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $85.00.

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.