EP Wealth Advisors LLC Sells 4,166 Shares of Sempra (NYSE:SRE)

EP Wealth Advisors LLC cut its stake in Sempra (NYSE:SRE) by 1.2% during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 351,001 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 4,166 shares during the quarter. EP Wealth Advisors LLC owned approximately 0.06% of Sempra worth $26,697,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Wellington Management Group LLP increased its stake in shares of Sempra by 12.1% during the fourth quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 27,123,899 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $2,026,969,000 after purchasing an additional 2,917,668 shares during the period. Nordea Investment Management AB grew its stake in shares of Sempra by 5,279.4% in the first quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 1,583,816 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $113,591,000 after acquiring an additional 1,554,374 shares in the last quarter. M&G Plc bought a new position in Sempra during the first quarter worth about $64,994,000. Zimmer Partners LP raised its stake in Sempra by 96.9% in the 1st quarter. Zimmer Partners LP now owns 1,636,202 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $117,528,000 after purchasing an additional 805,084 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Jupiter Asset Management Ltd. bought a new stake in Sempra in the 1st quarter valued at about $42,630,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 89.65% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages have recently commented on SRE. Barclays raised their target price on shares of Sempra from $81.00 to $87.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 13th. Morgan Stanley raised their price objective on Sempra from $80.00 to $85.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, September 25th. Evercore ISI lifted their price objective on Sempra from $83.00 to $84.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, August 7th. BMO Capital Markets increased their target price on Sempra from $90.00 to $93.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, September 12th. Finally, Bank of America began coverage on Sempra in a research note on Thursday, September 12th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $94.00 price target for the company. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has given a hold rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $85.42.

Sempra Stock Performance

Shares of Sempra stock opened at $83.25 on Monday. The stock has a market cap of $52.71 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.44, a P/E/G ratio of 2.64 and a beta of 0.75. The company has a quick ratio of 0.41, a current ratio of 0.46 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.84. Sempra has a twelve month low of $63.75 and a twelve month high of $84.38. The company’s fifty day moving average is $80.99 and its 200 day moving average is $76.38.

Sempra (NYSE:SRE) last issued 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). Sempra had a return on equity of 8.58% and a net margin of 22.31%. The company had revenue of $3.01 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.46 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $0.94 earnings per share. Sempra’s revenue was down 9.7% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts forecast that Sempra will post 4.79 EPS for the current year.

Sempra Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared 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. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, September 26th. This represents a $2.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.98%. Sempra’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 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.