Northwest Investment Counselors LLC Makes New $119,000 Investment in Sempra (NYSE:SRE)

Northwest Investment Counselors LLC purchased a new position in Sempra (NYSE:SRE) during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm purchased 1,663 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $119,000.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Turtle Creek Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Sempra during the 4th quarter worth about $28,000. JFS Wealth Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of Sempra by 195.1% in the fourth quarter. JFS Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 419 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $31,000 after buying an additional 277 shares in the last quarter. Financial Connections Group Inc. acquired a new stake in Sempra in the 4th quarter valued at about $34,000. Planned Solutions Inc. bought a new position in Sempra in the 4th quarter worth approximately $35,000. Finally, BKM Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Sempra during the fourth quarter worth $45,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 89.65% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages recently weighed in on SRE. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $82.00 price objective on shares of Sempra in a research note on Wednesday, March 6th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price target on shares of Sempra from $79.00 to $84.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 8th. Morgan Stanley cut their price objective on Sempra from $79.00 to $76.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Monday. LADENBURG THALM/SH SH reduced their price target on Sempra from $81.50 to $79.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, May 29th. Finally, 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. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has assigned a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Sempra currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $82.10.

Insider Activity

In related news, Director Richard J. Mark acquired 1,925 shares of Sempra stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 17th. The stock was bought at an average price of $77.97 per share, with a total value of $150,092.25. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 5,420 shares in the company, valued at $422,597.40. The acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In other news, Director Richard J. Mark acquired 1,925 shares of Sempra stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, May 17th. The stock was bought at an average price of $77.97 per share, for a total transaction of $150,092.25. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 5,420 shares in the company, valued at $422,597.40. The purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CAO Peter R. Wall sold 6,100 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, June 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $75.07, for a total transaction of $457,927.00. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 14,751 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,107,357.57. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 0.27% of the company’s stock.

Sempra Stock Up 1.6 %

Shares of NYSE:SRE opened at $76.44 on Tuesday. The stock has a market cap of $48.17 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.93, a PEG ratio of 2.61 and a beta of 0.74. The business’s 50 day moving average is $74.60 and its 200 day moving average is $72.94. Sempra has a 12-month low of $63.75 and a 12-month high of $78.83. The company has a quick ratio of 0.57, a current ratio of 0.62 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.87.

Sempra (NYSE:SRE) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, May 7th. The utilities provider reported $1.34 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.35 by ($0.01). Sempra had a net margin of 20.99% and a return on equity of 8.95%. The business had revenue of $3.64 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.58 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $1.46 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 44.5% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Sempra will post 4.8 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Sempra Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, July 15th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, June 27th will be given a dividend of $0.62 per share. This represents a $2.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.24%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, June 27th. Sempra’s payout ratio is 54.93%.

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.