Sempra (NYSE:SRE) Shares Sold by B. Riley Wealth Advisors Inc.

B. Riley Wealth Advisors Inc. lessened its position in shares of Sempra (NYSE:SRE) by 2.2% during the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 7,345 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 162 shares during the period. B. Riley Wealth Advisors Inc.’s holdings in Sempra were worth $615,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Eastern Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Sempra during the 3rd quarter valued at about $28,000. Family Firm Inc. purchased a new position in Sempra during the second quarter worth approximately $30,000. Hollencrest Capital Management grew its holdings in Sempra by 250.0% in the third quarter. Hollencrest Capital Management now owns 378 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $32,000 after purchasing an additional 270 shares during the period. Ashton Thomas Private Wealth LLC acquired a new stake in Sempra in the second quarter valued at approximately $33,000. Finally, Financial Connections Group Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Sempra during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $34,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 89.65% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms recently issued reports on SRE. Bank of America began coverage on shares of Sempra in a research note on Thursday, September 12th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $94.00 price target on the stock. 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 target price on the stock. Evercore ISI upped their price target on shares of Sempra from $84.00 to $88.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 7th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on shares of Sempra from $87.00 to $96.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 7th. Finally, Morgan Stanley upgraded Sempra from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and boosted their price objective for the stock from $85.00 to $98.00 in a research note on Friday, December 13th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating and ten have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $91.60.

Sempra Trading Down 2.2 %

SRE opened at $85.09 on Thursday. The firm has a market capitalization of $53.90 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.74, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.45 and a beta of 0.77. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $88.40 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $82.44. Sempra has a 1-year low of $66.40 and a 1-year high of $95.77. 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 announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, November 6th. The utilities provider reported $0.89 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.05 by ($0.16). The company had revenue of $2.78 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.54 billion. Sempra had a return on equity of 8.06% and a net margin of 22.63%. The business’s quarterly revenue was down 16.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $1.08 EPS. Analysts expect that Sempra will post 4.76 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Sempra Announces Dividend

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 issued a $0.62 dividend. This represents a $2.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.91%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, December 5th. Sempra’s dividend payout ratio is currently 54.63%.

Insider Activity at Sempra

In other Sempra news, VP Trevor I. Mihalik sold 23,713 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, November 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $93.09, for a total value of $2,207,443.17. Following the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 11,190 shares in the company, valued at $1,041,677.10. The trade was a 67.94 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. 0.24% of the stock is currently owned by 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.