Great Valley Advisor Group Inc. Raises Position in Sempra (NYSE:SRE)

Great Valley Advisor Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Sempra (NYSE:SRE) by 55.7% during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 7,072 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after buying an additional 2,530 shares during the period. Great Valley Advisor Group Inc.’s holdings in Sempra were worth $592,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Eastern Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Sempra in the third quarter valued at about $28,000. Family Firm Inc. bought a new stake in Sempra in the 2nd quarter worth about $30,000. Hollencrest Capital Management increased its stake in Sempra by 250.0% in the 3rd quarter. Hollencrest Capital Management now owns 378 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $32,000 after buying an additional 270 shares during the last quarter. Ashton Thomas Private Wealth LLC bought a new position in shares of Sempra during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $33,000. Finally, Financial Connections Group Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Sempra in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $34,000. Institutional investors own 89.65% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, VP Trevor I. Mihalik sold 23,713 shares of Sempra stock in a transaction on Wednesday, November 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $93.09, for a total transaction of $2,207,443.17. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now owns 11,190 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,041,677.10. This trade represents a 67.94 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. 0.24% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts recently commented on SRE shares. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price target on Sempra from $87.00 to $96.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 7th. Bank of America initiated coverage on Sempra in a research note on Thursday, September 12th. They set a “buy” rating and a $94.00 target price on the stock. 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 target for the company. BMO Capital Markets lifted their price objective on shares of Sempra from $93.00 to $96.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, October 21st. Finally, Morgan Stanley increased their target price 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. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has assigned a hold rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Sempra has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $89.00.

Sempra Trading Down 1.6 %

NYSE:SRE opened at $93.28 on Wednesday. Sempra has a 1 year low of $66.40 and a 1 year high of $95.77. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $86.07 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $80.97. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.89, a current ratio of 0.52 and a quick ratio of 0.47. The company has a market cap of $59.08 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.55, a P/E/G ratio of 2.59 and a beta of 0.75.

Sempra (NYSE:SRE) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, November 6th. The utilities provider reported $0.89 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.05 by ($0.16). Sempra had a net margin of 22.63% and a return on equity of 8.06%. The company had revenue of $2.78 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.54 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $1.08 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 16.7% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts expect that Sempra will post 4.77 EPS for the current year.

Sempra Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, January 15th. Investors of record on Thursday, December 5th will be paid a dividend of $0.62 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, December 5th. This represents a $2.48 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.66%. Sempra’s dividend payout ratio is currently 54.63%.

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.