MBB Public Markets I LLC Takes $3.47 Million Position in Sempra (NYSE:SRE)

MBB Public Markets I LLC purchased a new stake in Sempra (NYSE:SRE) in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm purchased 45,586 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $3,467,000.

Several other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of SRE. Perennial Investment Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of Sempra by 2.8% in the 2nd quarter. Perennial Investment Advisors LLC now owns 4,963 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $377,000 after buying an additional 134 shares during the period. Transcend Capital Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in Sempra by 2.8% in the second quarter. Transcend Capital Advisors LLC now owns 4,983 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $379,000 after acquiring an additional 136 shares during the last quarter. Marcum Wealth LLC increased its position in Sempra by 3.5% in the second quarter. Marcum Wealth LLC now owns 4,019 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $306,000 after purchasing an additional 137 shares during the period. Crossmark Global Holdings Inc. raised its holdings in Sempra by 0.4% during the 4th quarter. Crossmark Global Holdings Inc. now owns 38,190 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $2,854,000 after purchasing an additional 147 shares during the last quarter. Finally, SeaCrest Wealth Management LLC raised its holdings in Sempra by 4.0% during the 2nd quarter. SeaCrest Wealth Management LLC now owns 3,794 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $289,000 after purchasing an additional 147 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 89.65% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts have recently issued reports on SRE shares. Evercore ISI raised their target price on shares of Sempra from $83.00 to $84.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 7th. BMO Capital Markets raised their price objective on shares of Sempra from $90.00 to $93.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, September 12th. Bank of America assumed coverage on shares of Sempra in a report on Thursday, September 12th. They set a “buy” rating and a $94.00 target price for the company. Barclays increased their price target on Sempra from $81.00 to $87.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 13th. Finally, Morgan Stanley raised their price target on Sempra from $80.00 to $85.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has issued a hold rating and ten have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $85.42.

Sempra Stock Performance

Shares of Sempra stock opened at $83.25 on Friday. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $80.88 and its 200 day simple moving average is $76.23. The company has a current ratio of 0.46, a quick ratio of 0.41 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.84. The company has a market capitalization of $52.46 billion, a PE ratio of 18.46, a PEG ratio of 2.67 and a beta of 0.75. Sempra has a 12 month low of $63.75 and a 12 month high of $84.38.

Sempra (NYSE:SRE) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, August 6th. The utilities provider reported $0.89 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.92 by ($0.03). Sempra had a return on equity of 8.58% and a net margin of 22.31%. The business had revenue of $3.01 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.46 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $0.94 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 9.7% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts predict that Sempra will post 4.79 EPS for the current year.

Sempra Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, October 15th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, September 26th will be paid a $0.62 dividend. This represents a $2.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.98%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, September 26th. Sempra’s payout ratio is currently 54.99%.

About Sempra

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.