Morey & Quinn Wealth Partners LLC Acquires New Holdings in Sempra (NYSE:SRE)

Morey & Quinn Wealth Partners LLC bought a new position in shares of Sempra (NYSE:SRE) in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm bought 2,650 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $232,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Crews Bank & Trust acquired a new stake in Sempra in the fourth quarter worth $26,000. Synergy Investment Management LLC bought a new stake in Sempra in the 4th quarter worth about $29,000. TCTC Holdings LLC raised its stake in shares of Sempra by 265.2% during the 4th quarter. TCTC Holdings LLC now owns 336 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $29,000 after purchasing an additional 244 shares during the period. Human Investing LLC purchased a new position in Sempra in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $31,000. Finally, ST Germain D J Co. Inc. boosted its position in Sempra by 225.6% during the fourth quarter. ST Germain D J Co. Inc. now owns 433 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $38,000 after purchasing an additional 300 shares during the period. 89.65% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

SRE has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price target on shares of Sempra from $96.00 to $88.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, February 26th. UBS Group cut shares of Sempra from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and cut their price objective for the company from $95.00 to $78.00 in a research note on Wednesday, February 26th. Jefferies Financial Group reaffirmed a “hold” rating and issued a $77.00 price target (down from $96.00) on shares of Sempra in a research note on Monday, March 3rd. Argus downgraded shares of Sempra from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 18th. Finally, Mizuho cut their price target on shares of Sempra from $92.00 to $76.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, February 26th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Sempra currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $81.58.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, Director Pablo Ferrero purchased 2,600 shares of Sempra stock in a transaction on Monday, March 17th. The shares were bought at an average price of $70.96 per share, with a total value of $184,496.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 15,649 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,110,453.04. This trade represents a 19.92 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CEO Jeffrey W. Martin sold 49,737 shares of Sempra stock in a transaction dated Thursday, January 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $82.94, for a total value of $4,125,186.78. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $165.88. This trade represents a 100.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have bought 9,319 shares of company stock worth $651,676 over the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 0.24% of the company’s stock.

Sempra Price Performance

Shares of SRE stock opened at $69.30 on Wednesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $45.15 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.26, a PEG ratio of 2.19 and a beta of 0.76. Sempra has a fifty-two week low of $64.89 and a fifty-two week high of $95.77. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.89, a quick ratio of 0.47 and a current ratio of 0.52. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $78.05 and its 200-day simple moving average is $83.40.

Sempra (NYSE:SRE) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 25th. The utilities provider reported $1.50 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.47 by $0.03. Sempra had a net margin of 22.63% and a return on equity of 8.06%. The business had revenue of $3.76 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.73 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $1.13 EPS. The business’s revenue was up 7.6% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Sempra will post 4.76 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Sempra Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 15th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, March 20th will be paid a $0.645 dividend. This represents a $2.58 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.72%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, March 20th. This is a positive change from Sempra’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.62. Sempra’s dividend payout ratio is 58.37%.

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.