Pinnacle Associates Ltd. Purchases New Shares in Sempra (NYSE:SRE)

Pinnacle Associates Ltd. acquired a new position in Sempra (NYSE:SRE) in the third quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor acquired 2,970 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $248,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. GSA Capital Partners LLP purchased a new stake in shares of Sempra during the first quarter valued at approximately $815,000. Magnetar Financial LLC bought a new stake in shares of Sempra during the 1st quarter worth $2,293,000. Forsta AP Fonden raised its stake in shares of Sempra by 13.7% during the 1st quarter. Forsta AP Fonden now owns 117,200 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $8,418,000 after purchasing an additional 14,100 shares during the period. SG Americas Securities LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Sempra by 249.9% in the 1st quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 155,854 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $11,195,000 after buying an additional 111,314 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Dai ichi Life Insurance Company Ltd grew its position in Sempra by 319.5% during the second quarter. Dai ichi Life Insurance Company Ltd now owns 196,954 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $14,980,000 after buying an additional 150,000 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 89.65% of the company’s stock.

Sempra Price Performance

SRE stock opened at $81.65 on Monday. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $83.14 and a 200-day moving average of $78.76. The firm has a market capitalization of $51.70 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.45, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.66 and a beta of 0.75. Sempra has a 12 month low of $66.40 and a 12 month high of $86.57. The company has a current ratio of 0.46, a quick ratio of 0.41 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.84.

Sempra (NYSE:SRE) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, August 6th. The utilities provider reported $0.89 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.92 by ($0.03). Sempra had a net margin of 22.31% and a return on equity of 8.58%. The firm had revenue of $3.01 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.46 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $0.94 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 9.7% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Sempra will post 4.77 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Sempra Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, October 15th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, September 26th were given a dividend of $0.62 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, September 26th. This represents a $2.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.04%. Sempra’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 52.99%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages have commented on SRE. Jefferies Financial Group started coverage on shares of Sempra in a research report on Thursday, October 24th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $98.00 price objective on the stock. Morgan Stanley increased their price objective on Sempra from $80.00 to $85.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday, September 25th. Barclays boosted their target price on Sempra from $87.00 to $89.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 1st. Evercore ISI increased their price target on Sempra from $83.00 to $84.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 7th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets boosted their price objective on Sempra from $93.00 to $96.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, October 21st. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has assigned a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $87.55.

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.