Golden State Equity Partners Purchases 338 Shares of Sempra (NYSE:SRE)

Golden State Equity Partners increased its position in shares of Sempra (NYSE:SRE) by 2.1% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 16,167 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 338 shares during the quarter. Golden State Equity Partners’ holdings in Sempra were worth $1,208,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors have also recently modified their holdings of SRE. WFA of San Diego LLC grew its position in Sempra by 29.9% during the 3rd quarter. WFA of San Diego LLC now owns 2,439 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $166,000 after purchasing an additional 561 shares during the last quarter. Meyer Handelman Co. grew its position in Sempra by 100.0% during the 3rd quarter. Meyer Handelman Co. now owns 68,696 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $4,673,000 after purchasing an additional 34,348 shares during the last quarter. New Mexico Educational Retirement Board grew its position in Sempra by 114.4% during the 3rd quarter. New Mexico Educational Retirement Board now owns 32,782 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $2,230,000 after purchasing an additional 17,491 shares during the last quarter. Ausbil Investment Management Ltd grew its position in Sempra by 13.5% during the 4th quarter. Ausbil Investment Management Ltd now owns 172,129 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $12,863,000 after purchasing an additional 20,469 shares during the last quarter. Finally, CUSHING ASSET MANAGEMENT LP dba NXG INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT purchased a new stake in Sempra during the 4th quarter worth approximately $9,715,000. Institutional investors own 89.65% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts have weighed in on the stock. Mizuho dropped their target price on shares of Sempra from $83.00 to $79.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, January 25th. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Sempra from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 20th. Morgan Stanley upped their price objective on shares of Sempra from $74.00 to $75.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, March 21st. Barclays upped their price objective on shares of Sempra from $77.00 to $79.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, March 14th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $82.00 price objective on shares of Sempra in a report on Wednesday, March 6th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has given a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $82.14.

Sempra Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE SRE opened at $71.32 on Friday. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $70.55 and its 200 day moving average price is $71.70. Sempra has a 1 year low of $63.75 and a 1 year high of $79.30. The company has a market capitalization of $45.08 billion, a PE ratio of 14.89, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.46 and a beta of 0.71. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.85, a quick ratio of 0.49 and a current ratio of 0.54.

Sempra (NYSE:SRE) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 27th. The utilities provider reported $1.13 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.11 by $0.02. The company had revenue of $3.49 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.01 billion. Sempra had a net margin of 18.26% and a return on equity of 9.45%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 1.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $1.17 earnings per share. On average, research analysts predict that Sempra will post 4.82 earnings per share for the current year.

Sempra Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, April 15th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, March 21st were given a dividend of $0.62 per share. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, March 20th. This is a boost from Sempra’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.60. This represents a $2.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.48%. Sempra’s dividend payout ratio is currently 51.77%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Sempra news, VP Trevor I. Mihalik sold 57,571 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $70.59, for a total transaction of $4,063,936.89. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 10,922 shares in the company, valued at $770,983.98. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In other news, VP Trevor I. Mihalik sold 57,571 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $70.59, for a total value of $4,063,936.89. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now directly owns 10,922 shares in the company, valued at $770,983.98. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, insider Diana L. Day sold 3,937 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $71.21, for a total transaction of $280,353.77. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now owns 18,145 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,292,105.45. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 122,432 shares of company stock worth $8,668,035. Company insiders own 0.24% of the company’s stock.

About Sempra

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.