Sempra (NYSE:SRE) Shares Sold by Mesirow Financial Investment Management Inc.

Mesirow Financial Investment Management Inc. lessened its stake in Sempra (NYSE:SRE) by 2.2% in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 8,322 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 184 shares during the quarter. Mesirow Financial Investment Management Inc.’s holdings in Sempra were worth $633,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Crestline Management LP increased its stake in Sempra by 14.0% during the fourth quarter. Crestline Management LP now owns 119,174 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $8,906,000 after acquiring an additional 14,674 shares during the last quarter. GSA Capital Partners LLP acquired a new stake in Sempra during the first quarter worth $815,000. D.A. Davidson & CO. increased its stake in Sempra by 14.4% during the fourth quarter. D.A. Davidson & CO. now owns 41,202 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $3,079,000 after acquiring an additional 5,197 shares during the last quarter. Magnetar Financial LLC acquired a new stake in Sempra during the first quarter worth $2,293,000. Finally, Forsta AP Fonden increased its stake in Sempra by 13.7% during the first quarter. Forsta AP Fonden now owns 117,200 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $8,418,000 after acquiring an additional 14,100 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 89.65% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts have issued reports on SRE shares. LADENBURG THALM/SH SH cut their target price on 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 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. Barclays lifted their price objective on Sempra from $81.00 to $87.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 13th. Bank of America started coverage on Sempra in a research note on Thursday, September 12th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $94.00 price objective for the company. Finally, Morgan Stanley lifted their price objective on Sempra from $77.00 to $80.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, August 23rd. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has issued a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $85.00.

Sempra Trading Up 0.4 %

NYSE:SRE opened at $83.95 on Wednesday. The firm has a market cap of $53.15 billion, a PE ratio of 18.59, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.84 and a beta of 0.75. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $80.03 and a 200 day moving average price of $75.70. Sempra has a 12-month low of $63.75 and a 12-month high of $84.29. The company has a current ratio of 0.46, a quick ratio of 0.41 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.84.

Sempra (NYSE:SRE) last released its 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). The company had revenue of $3.01 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.46 billion. Sempra had a net margin of 22.31% and a return on equity of 8.58%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 9.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.94 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Sempra will post 4.79 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Sempra Announces Dividend

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 issued a dividend of $0.62 per share. This represents a $2.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.95%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, September 26th. Sempra’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 54.93%.

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.