Jeppson Wealth Management LLC Sells 160 Shares of Sempra (NYSE:SRE)

Jeppson Wealth Management LLC cut its position in Sempra (NYSE:SRE) by 0.8% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 20,862 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 160 shares during the quarter. Jeppson Wealth Management LLC’s holdings in Sempra were worth $1,830,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Wellington Management Group LLP grew its position in shares of Sempra by 0.4% in the 3rd quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 34,324,893 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $2,870,591,000 after buying an additional 128,847 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp boosted its stake in Sempra by 4.9% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 32,940,620 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $2,774,974,000 after acquiring an additional 1,539,026 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC grew its holdings in Sempra by 9.1% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 18,978,605 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,587,181,000 after purchasing an additional 1,582,653 shares during the last quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC increased 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 in the last quarter. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Sempra by 1.2% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 12,761,872 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,063,007,000 after purchasing an additional 145,873 shares during the last quarter. 89.65% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Sempra Stock Down 0.7 %

SRE stock opened at $82.16 on Tuesday. The company has a market capitalization of $52.04 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.10, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.10 and a beta of 0.78. Sempra has a 12 month low of $66.40 and a 12 month high of $95.77. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $87.72 and its 200-day simple moving average is $84.22. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.89, a current ratio of 0.52 and a quick ratio of 0.47.

Sempra (NYSE:SRE) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, November 6th. The utilities provider reported $0.89 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.05 by ($0.16). The business had revenue of $2.78 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.54 billion. Sempra had a net margin of 22.63% and a return on equity of 8.06%. Sempra’s revenue for the quarter was down 16.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $1.08 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Sempra will post 4.77 earnings per share for the current year.

Sempra Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, January 15th. Investors of record on Thursday, December 5th were given a dividend of $0.62 per share. This represents a $2.48 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.02%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, December 5th. Sempra’s dividend payout ratio is currently 54.63%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Sempra

In related news, VP Trevor I. Mihalik sold 23,713 shares of the firm’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 sale, the vice president now owns 11,190 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,041,677.10. This trade represents a 67.94 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. 0.24% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts recently weighed in on SRE shares. 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. Evercore ISI upped their price objective on shares of Sempra from $84.00 to $88.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, November 7th. Jefferies Financial Group started coverage on shares of Sempra in a research report on Thursday, October 24th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $98.00 price objective for the company. Barclays dropped their target price on shares of Sempra from $99.00 to $95.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday. Finally, Morgan Stanley raised shares of Sempra from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and raised their price target for the stock from $85.00 to $98.00 in a report on Friday, December 13th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $91.20.

Sempra 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.