Arkadios Wealth Advisors Makes New $351,000 Investment in Sempra (NYSE:SRE)

Arkadios Wealth Advisors bought a new position in shares of Sempra (NYSE:SRE) during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm bought 4,203 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $351,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Clearbridge Investments LLC raised its position in shares of Sempra by 6.9% during the second quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC now owns 13,452,912 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,023,228,000 after buying an additional 874,133 shares during the last quarter. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale raised its position in shares of Sempra by 2.1% during the second quarter. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale now owns 2,404,573 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $182,158,000 after buying an additional 48,592 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP raised its position in shares of Sempra by 19.7% during the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,757,553 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $133,679,000 after buying an additional 289,731 shares during the last quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC raised its position in shares of Sempra by 1.6% during the second quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC now owns 1,659,618 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $126,246,000 after buying an additional 26,862 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Zimmer Partners LP raised its position in shares of Sempra by 96.9% during the first quarter. Zimmer Partners LP now owns 1,636,202 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $117,528,000 after buying an additional 805,084 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 89.65% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

SRE has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Jefferies Financial Group began coverage on shares of Sempra in a research report on Thursday, October 24th. They set a “buy” rating and a $98.00 price objective on the stock. Morgan Stanley raised their target price on shares of Sempra from $80.00 to $85.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday, September 25th. BMO Capital Markets raised their target price on shares of Sempra from $93.00 to $96.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, October 21st. Barclays raised 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. Finally, 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 report on Wednesday, August 7th. One 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.com, Sempra currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $87.55.

Sempra Stock Down 0.0 %

NYSE SRE opened at $83.53 on Thursday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.41, a current ratio of 0.46 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.84. The company has a fifty day moving average of $83.09 and a two-hundred day moving average of $78.47. The firm has a market capitalization of $52.89 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.85, a PEG ratio of 2.69 and a beta of 0.75. Sempra has a 52 week low of $66.40 and a 52 week high of $86.57.

Sempra (NYSE:SRE) last issued its earnings results 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). The company had revenue of $3.01 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.46 billion. Sempra had a net margin of 22.31% and a return on equity of 8.58%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 9.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $0.94 earnings per share. On average, analysts predict that Sempra will post 4.78 earnings per share for the current year.

Sempra Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, October 15th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, September 26th were paid a dividend of $0.62 per share. This represents a $2.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.97%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, September 26th. Sempra’s dividend payout ratio is currently 52.99%.

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.