Daiwa Securities Group Inc. Has $6.51 Million Stock Position in Sempra (NYSE:SRE)

Daiwa Securities Group Inc. raised its position in Sempra (NYSE:SRE) by 5.5% in the second quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 85,521 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 4,437 shares during the period. Daiwa Securities Group Inc.’s holdings in Sempra were worth $6,505,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of SRE. Family Firm Inc. acquired a new stake in Sempra in the 2nd quarter valued at $30,000. Ashton Thomas Private Wealth LLC acquired a new position in shares of Sempra during the second quarter valued at about $33,000. Financial Connections Group Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Sempra during the second quarter worth about $34,000. SouthState Corp raised its holdings in shares of Sempra by 900.0% in the 2nd quarter. SouthState Corp now owns 470 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $36,000 after acquiring an additional 423 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Opal Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new position in Sempra in the 2nd quarter valued at about $39,000. Institutional investors own 89.65% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Sempra

In other Sempra news, CAO Peter R. Wall sold 6,100 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, June 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $75.07, for a total transaction of $457,927.00. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 14,751 shares in the company, valued at $1,107,357.57. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. 0.24% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts have commented on the company. BMO Capital Markets decreased their price objective on Sempra from $86.00 to $84.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, July 10th. Mizuho upped their price target on Sempra from $79.00 to $86.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, May 17th. Evercore ISI raised their price objective on Sempra from $83.00 to $84.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 7th. LADENBURG THALM/SH SH reduced their target price 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. Finally, Barclays raised their price target on shares of Sempra from $81.00 to $87.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 13th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has issued a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $83.36.

Sempra Stock Performance

NYSE SRE opened at $81.37 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.84, a quick ratio of 0.41 and a current ratio of 0.46. The company has a market capitalization of $51.27 billion, a PE ratio of 18.04, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.86 and a beta of 0.75. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $79.42 and a 200 day simple moving average of $75.32. Sempra has a 52-week low of $63.75 and a 52-week high of $84.28.

Sempra (NYSE:SRE) last announced its quarterly earnings data 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). The firm had revenue of $3.01 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.46 billion. Sempra had a net margin of 22.31% and a return on equity of 8.58%. The company’s revenue was down 9.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.94 earnings per share. On average, research analysts predict that Sempra will post 4.79 EPS for the current year.

Sempra Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, October 15th. Investors of record on Thursday, September 26th will be issued a $0.62 dividend. This represents a $2.48 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.05%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, September 26th. Sempra’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 54.99%.

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.