Sempra (NYSE:SRE) Shares Acquired by AQR Capital Management LLC

AQR Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in Sempra (NYSE:SRE) by 173.6% during the 2nd quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 209,735 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after buying an additional 133,085 shares during the quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC’s holdings in Sempra were worth $15,952,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Caxton Associates LP acquired a new position in shares of Sempra in the 2nd quarter worth $201,000. Point72 Asia Singapore Pte. Ltd. acquired a new stake in Sempra during the 2nd quarter worth about $199,000. Fred Alger Management LLC lifted its stake in Sempra by 4.2% during the second quarter. Fred Alger Management LLC now owns 45,025 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $3,425,000 after buying an additional 1,808 shares in the last quarter. Zurich Insurance Group Ltd FI acquired a new position in shares of Sempra in the second quarter worth about $23,056,000. Finally, BRITISH COLUMBIA INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT Corp increased its position in shares of Sempra by 168.2% in the second quarter. BRITISH COLUMBIA INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT Corp now owns 416,088 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $31,648,000 after acquiring an additional 260,951 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 89.65% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

SRE has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Morgan Stanley upped their price target on shares of Sempra from $80.00 to $85.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, September 25th. Bank of America assumed coverage on Sempra in a research report on Thursday, September 12th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $94.00 target price for the company. Barclays upped their price target on Sempra from $87.00 to $89.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday. Evercore ISI raised their price objective on Sempra from $83.00 to $84.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 7th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets upped their target price on Sempra from $90.00 to $93.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, September 12th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has given a hold rating and ten have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $85.58.

Sempra Trading Up 0.4 %

NYSE:SRE opened at $83.93 on Wednesday. The company has a market capitalization of $52.89 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.61, a P/E/G ratio of 2.64 and a beta of 0.75. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $81.23 and its 200 day moving average price is $76.57. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.84, a quick ratio of 0.41 and a current ratio of 0.46. Sempra has a 52 week low of $63.75 and a 52 week high of $84.47.

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

Sempra Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, October 15th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, September 26th will be given a dividend of $0.62 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, September 26th. This represents a $2.48 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.95%. Sempra’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 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.