7,004 Shares in Sempra (NYSE:SRE) Purchased by Tritonpoint Wealth LLC

Tritonpoint Wealth LLC acquired a new stake in Sempra (NYSE:SRE) in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund acquired 7,004 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $615,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in SRE. Unigestion Holding SA acquired a new stake in shares of Sempra in the third quarter valued at approximately $33,023,000. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. increased its stake in Sempra by 633.4% during the 4th quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. now owns 29,917 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $2,624,000 after acquiring an additional 25,838 shares during the period. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised its holdings in Sempra by 8.8% in the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 3,428,132 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $286,695,000 after acquiring an additional 278,183 shares in the last quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of Sempra by 1.9% during the 3rd quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 357,107 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $29,865,000 after acquiring an additional 6,709 shares during the period. Finally, Kovitz Investment Group Partners LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Sempra during the 3rd quarter worth $675,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 89.65% of the company’s stock.

Sempra Trading Down 0.5 %

Shares of SRE stock opened at $82.87 on Monday. Sempra has a twelve month low of $66.40 and a twelve month high of $95.77. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $86.60 and its 200 day simple moving average is $84.37. The company has a quick ratio of 0.47, a current ratio of 0.52 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.89. The firm has a market capitalization of $52.49 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.25, a P/E/G ratio of 2.08 and a beta of 0.78.

Sempra (NYSE:SRE) last announced its quarterly earnings results 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 firm had revenue of $2.78 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.54 billion. Sempra had a net margin of 22.63% and a return on equity of 8.06%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 16.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $1.08 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Sempra will post 4.77 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Sempra Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, January 15th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, December 5th were paid a dividend of $0.62 per share. This represents a $2.48 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.99%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, December 5th. Sempra’s payout ratio is currently 54.63%.

Insider Transactions at Sempra

In other news, CEO Jeffrey W. Martin sold 49,737 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, January 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $82.94, for a total transaction of $4,125,186.78. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2 shares in the company, valued at $165.88. This trade represents a 100.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, VP Trevor I. Mihalik sold 23,713 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 completion of the sale, the vice president now owns 11,190 shares in the company, valued at $1,041,677.10. The trade was a 67.94 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.24% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Morgan Stanley raised shares of Sempra from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and upped their price objective for the stock from $85.00 to $98.00 in a research report on Friday, December 13th. BMO Capital Markets increased their price target 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. Barclays lowered their price objective on shares of Sempra from $99.00 to $95.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, January 27th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on Sempra from $87.00 to $96.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, November 7th. Finally, Evercore ISI boosted their price target on Sempra from $84.00 to $88.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, November 7th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating and ten have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Sempra has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $91.20.

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.