Empower Advisory Group LLC Boosts Position in Sempra (NYSE:SRE)

Empower Advisory Group LLC increased its position in Sempra (NYSE:SRE) by 2.7% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 1,044,270 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 27,439 shares during the period. Empower Advisory Group LLC owned 0.16% of Sempra worth $87,332,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the business. M&G Plc purchased a new position in Sempra during the first quarter worth $64,994,000. Clearbridge Investments LLC grew its holdings in shares of Sempra by 6.9% during the second quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC now owns 13,452,912 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,023,228,000 after purchasing an additional 874,133 shares during the last quarter. Zimmer Partners LP lifted its stake in Sempra by 96.9% in the first quarter. Zimmer Partners LP now owns 1,636,202 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $117,528,000 after buying an additional 805,084 shares during the last quarter. Jupiter Asset Management Ltd. bought a new stake in shares of Sempra during the first quarter valued at approximately $42,630,000. Finally, Swedbank AB acquired a new position in shares of Sempra during the first quarter valued at $27,338,000. 89.65% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

SRE has been the subject of several research reports. Evercore ISI raised their price objective on shares of Sempra from $84.00 to $88.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 7th. BMO Capital Markets lifted their price objective on shares of Sempra from $93.00 to $96.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, October 21st. Barclays lifted their price objective on Sempra from $87.00 to $89.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 1st. Bank of America assumed coverage on Sempra in a research report on Thursday, September 12th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $94.00 target price for the company. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on Sempra from $87.00 to $96.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, November 7th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has given a hold rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Sempra presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $89.00.

Sempra Stock Performance

Shares of SRE stock opened at $92.23 on Wednesday. Sempra has a one year low of $66.40 and a one year high of $92.66. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $83.80 and a 200-day moving average of $79.46. 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 $58.42 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.31, a P/E/G ratio of 2.94 and a beta of 0.75.

Sempra (NYSE:SRE) last released its earnings results 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). The firm had revenue of $2.78 billion during 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 period in the prior year, the business earned $1.08 earnings per share. Equities research analysts forecast that Sempra will post 4.77 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Sempra Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, January 15th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, December 5th will be paid a $0.62 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, December 5th. This represents a $2.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.69%. Sempra’s dividend payout ratio is currently 54.63%.

Sempra Company 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.