Meridian Wealth Management LLC Acquires New Shares in Sempra (NYSE:SRE)

Meridian Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in Sempra (NYSE:SRE) in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor acquired 5,336 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $468,000.

A number of other large investors have also made changes to their positions in SRE. Crews Bank & Trust bought a new stake in shares of Sempra in the 4th quarter valued at $26,000. Human Investing LLC bought a new stake in shares of Sempra in the 4th quarter valued at $31,000. Hollencrest Capital Management increased its position in shares of 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 in the last quarter. ST Germain D J Co. Inc. increased its position in shares of Sempra by 225.6% in the 4th quarter. ST Germain D J Co. Inc. now owns 433 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $38,000 after buying an additional 300 shares in the last quarter. Finally, LRI Investments LLC increased its position in shares of Sempra by 180.4% in the 3rd quarter. LRI Investments LLC now owns 443 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $40,000 after buying an additional 285 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 89.65% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

SRE has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Jefferies Financial Group reaffirmed a “hold” rating and issued a $77.00 target price (down from $96.00) on shares of Sempra in a research note on Monday. Evercore ISI upped their target price on shares of Sempra from $84.00 to $88.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 7th. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their target price on shares of Sempra from $96.00 to $88.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, February 26th. Guggenheim reduced their target price on shares of Sempra from $95.00 to $87.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, February 26th. Finally, Morgan Stanley reduced their target price on shares of Sempra from $100.00 to $85.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, February 26th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Sempra presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $81.54.

Sempra Trading Up 2.0 %

Sempra stock opened at $72.01 on Thursday. Sempra has a one year low of $64.89 and a one year high of $95.77. The company has a market cap of $46.91 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.86, a P/E/G ratio of 2.19 and a beta of 0.78. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $82.15 and a 200-day moving average of $84.58. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.89, a current ratio of 0.52 and a quick ratio of 0.47.

Sempra (NYSE:SRE) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, February 25th. The utilities provider reported $1.50 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.47 by $0.03. Sempra had a net margin of 22.63% and a return on equity of 8.06%. The business had revenue of $3.76 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.73 billion. During the same period last year, the business posted $1.13 EPS. Sempra’s revenue was up 7.6% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts expect that Sempra will post 4.76 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Sempra Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 15th. Investors of record on Thursday, March 20th will be paid a $0.645 dividend. This is an increase from Sempra’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.62. This represents a $2.58 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.58%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, March 20th. Sempra’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 58.37%.

Insider Activity at Sempra

In related news, CEO Jeffrey W. Martin sold 49,737 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, January 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $82.94, for a total value of $4,125,186.78. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2 shares in the company, valued at approximately $165.88. This trade represents a 100.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, SVP Alexander Lisa Larroque sold 2,755 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $81.93, for a total transaction of $225,717.15. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 13,905 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,139,236.65. This trade represents a 16.54 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.24% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.