Sempra (NYSE:SRE) Shares Bought by Janus Henderson Group PLC

Janus Henderson Group PLC boosted its position in shares of Sempra (NYSE:SRE) by 7.6% in the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 2,715,058 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after buying an additional 190,665 shares during the period. Janus Henderson Group PLC’s holdings in Sempra were worth $227,053,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Eastern Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Sempra during the third quarter worth approximately $28,000. Family Firm Inc. acquired a new stake in Sempra during the 2nd quarter worth $30,000. Hollencrest Capital Management boosted its stake in Sempra by 250.0% during the 3rd quarter. Hollencrest Capital Management now owns 378 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $32,000 after purchasing an additional 270 shares during the last quarter. Ashton Thomas Private Wealth LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Sempra during the second quarter worth $33,000. Finally, Financial Connections Group Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Sempra in the second quarter valued at about $34,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 89.65% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective 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. Barclays increased their price target on Sempra from $89.00 to $99.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday. Jefferies Financial Group initiated coverage on Sempra in a research note on Thursday, October 24th. They set a “buy” rating and a $98.00 price objective on the stock. Evercore ISI raised their target price on Sempra from $84.00 to $88.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 7th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets lifted their price target on Sempra from $93.00 to $96.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, October 21st. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has issued a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $89.91.

Sempra Price Performance

Sempra stock opened at $92.00 on Wednesday. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $87.09 and its 200-day simple moving average is $81.53. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.89, a quick ratio of 0.47 and a current ratio of 0.52. Sempra has a 1 year low of $66.40 and a 1 year high of $95.77. The company has a market capitalization of $58.27 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.26, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.53 and a beta of 0.77.

Sempra (NYSE:SRE) last announced 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). Sempra had a net margin of 22.63% and a return on equity of 8.06%. The firm had revenue of $2.78 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.54 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $1.08 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 16.7% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Sempra will post 4.77 earnings per share for the current year.

Sempra Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, January 15th. Investors of record on Thursday, December 5th will be issued a dividend of $0.62 per share. This represents a $2.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.70%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, December 5th. Sempra’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 54.63%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Sempra

In other Sempra news, VP Trevor I. Mihalik sold 23,713 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, November 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $93.09, for a total transaction of $2,207,443.17. Following the sale, the vice president now directly owns 11,190 shares in the company, valued at $1,041,677.10. This represents a 67.94 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. 0.27% of the stock is currently owned by corporate 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.