Sempra (NYSE:SRE) Position Reduced by Newport Trust Company LLC

Newport Trust Company LLC lessened its stake in Sempra (NYSE:SRE) by 2.1% during the 2nd quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 13,788,073 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 292,760 shares during the quarter. Sempra comprises 2.6% of Newport Trust Company LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 10th largest position. Newport Trust Company LLC’s holdings in Sempra were worth $1,048,721,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Family Firm Inc. purchased a new position in Sempra during the 2nd quarter valued at about $30,000. Ashton Thomas Private Wealth LLC bought a new stake in shares of Sempra in the 2nd quarter valued at about $33,000. Financial Connections Group Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Sempra in the 2nd quarter valued at about $34,000. SouthState Corp boosted 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 valued at $36,000 after buying an additional 423 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Opal Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Sempra in the 2nd quarter valued at about $39,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 89.65% of the company’s stock.

Sempra Stock Performance

SRE opened at $82.51 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.84, a current ratio of 0.46 and a quick ratio of 0.41. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $80.27 and a 200 day moving average price of $75.80. Sempra has a 1 year low of $63.75 and a 1 year high of $84.29. The stock has a market cap of $52.24 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.27, a P/E/G ratio of 2.84 and a beta of 0.75.

Sempra (NYSE:SRE) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, August 6th. The utilities provider reported $0.89 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate 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 during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.46 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.94 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 9.7% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts anticipate that Sempra will post 4.79 earnings per share for the current year.

Sempra Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, October 15th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, September 26th will be given a dividend of $0.62 per share. This represents a $2.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.01%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, September 26th. Sempra’s dividend payout ratio is presently 54.93%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have recently weighed in on SRE. BMO Capital Markets raised their price target on shares of Sempra from $90.00 to $93.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, September 12th. Evercore ISI boosted their target price on shares of Sempra from $83.00 to $84.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 7th. LADENBURG THALM/SH SH dropped their target price on shares of Sempra from $81.50 to $79.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, May 29th. Barclays boosted their target price on shares of Sempra from $81.00 to $87.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 13th. Finally, Morgan Stanley upped their price objective on shares of Sempra from $77.00 to $80.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, August 23rd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has assigned a hold rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $85.00.

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.