Axxcess Wealth Management LLC Sells 6,675 Shares of Sempra (NYSE:SRE)

Axxcess Wealth Management LLC reduced its stake in shares of Sempra (NYSE:SRE) by 29.6% during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 15,911 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 6,675 shares during the quarter. Axxcess Wealth Management LLC’s holdings in Sempra were worth $1,210,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Wellington Management Group LLP increased its holdings in Sempra by 12.1% in the 4th quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 27,123,899 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $2,026,969,000 after buying an additional 2,917,668 shares during the period. Nordea Investment Management AB boosted its position in shares of Sempra by 5,279.4% during the 1st quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 1,583,816 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $113,591,000 after acquiring an additional 1,554,374 shares in the last quarter. M&G Plc bought a new position in Sempra in the first quarter valued at approximately $64,994,000. Zimmer Partners LP raised its position in Sempra by 96.9% during the first quarter. Zimmer Partners LP now owns 1,636,202 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $117,528,000 after purchasing an additional 805,084 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Jupiter Asset Management Ltd. bought a new stake in Sempra during the first quarter worth $42,630,000. Institutional investors own 89.65% of the company’s stock.

Sempra Stock Performance

NYSE:SRE opened at $82.94 on Thursday. The company has a market capitalization of $52.51 billion, a PE ratio of 18.37, a P/E/G ratio of 2.84 and a beta of 0.75. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $80.16 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $75.75. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.84, a quick ratio of 0.41 and a current ratio of 0.46. Sempra has a fifty-two week low of $63.75 and a fifty-two week high of $84.29.

Sempra (NYSE:SRE) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, August 6th. The utilities provider reported $0.89 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.92 by ($0.03). Sempra had a return on equity of 8.58% and a net margin of 22.31%. The firm had revenue of $3.01 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.46 billion. During the same period last year, the company posted $0.94 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 9.7% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts anticipate that Sempra will post 4.79 earnings per share for the current year.

Sempra Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, October 15th. Investors of record on Thursday, September 26th will be given a $0.62 dividend. This represents a $2.48 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.99%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, September 26th. Sempra’s payout ratio is currently 54.93%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms have recently commented on SRE. Evercore ISI boosted their price target on Sempra from $83.00 to $84.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, August 7th. Bank of America assumed coverage on Sempra in a research note on Thursday, September 12th. They set a “buy” rating and a $94.00 target price for the company. Morgan Stanley raised their price target on shares of Sempra from $77.00 to $80.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, August 23rd. LADENBURG THALM/SH SH lowered their price objective on shares of Sempra from $81.50 to $79.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, May 29th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets raised their target price on shares of Sempra from $90.00 to $93.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, September 12th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has issued a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $85.00.

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.