Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd Increases Stake in Sempra (NYSE:SRE)

Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd increased its holdings in shares of Sempra (NYSE:SRE) by 2.2% during the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 77,998 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,698 shares during the period. Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd’s holdings in Sempra were worth $6,523,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in SRE. Family Firm Inc. acquired a new position in Sempra during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $30,000. Ashton Thomas Private Wealth LLC acquired a new position in Sempra during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $33,000. Financial Connections Group Inc. acquired a new position in Sempra during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $34,000. SouthState Corp grew its holdings in Sempra by 900.0% during the 2nd quarter. SouthState Corp now owns 470 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $36,000 after acquiring an additional 423 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Opal Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Sempra in the 2nd quarter valued at $39,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 89.65% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages have recently issued reports on SRE. Evercore ISI upped their target price on shares of Sempra from $83.00 to $84.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, August 7th. BMO Capital Markets upped their target price on shares of Sempra from $90.00 to $93.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, September 12th. Barclays upped their target price on shares of Sempra from $87.00 to $89.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 1st. Bank of America began coverage on shares of Sempra in a report on Thursday, September 12th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $94.00 target price for the company. Finally, Morgan Stanley increased their price target on shares of Sempra from $80.00 to $85.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, September 25th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has issued a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Sempra currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $86.20.

Sempra Stock Up 0.5 %

Shares of Sempra stock opened at $85.96 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $54.17 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.06, a PEG ratio of 2.64 and a beta of 0.75. Sempra has a one year low of $66.40 and a one year high of $86.13. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $82.30 and a two-hundred day moving average of $77.66. 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 (NYSE:SRE) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, August 6th. The utilities provider reported $0.89 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.92 by ($0.03). The business had revenue of $3.01 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.46 billion. Sempra had a net margin of 22.31% and a return on equity of 8.58%. Sempra’s revenue was down 9.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.94 earnings per share. On average, analysts forecast that Sempra will post 4.79 earnings per share for the current year.

Sempra Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, October 15th. Investors of record on Thursday, September 26th were paid a $0.62 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, September 26th. This represents a $2.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.89%. Sempra’s payout ratio is 54.99%.

Sempra Company 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.