Profund Advisors LLC Raises Stock Position in Sempra (NYSE:SRE)

Profund Advisors LLC raised its stake in Sempra (NYSE:SRE) by 48.8% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 34,944 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after buying an additional 11,458 shares during the period. Profund Advisors LLC’s holdings in Sempra were worth $2,658,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Crestline Management LP increased its holdings in Sempra by 14.0% in the fourth quarter. Crestline Management LP now owns 119,174 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $8,906,000 after buying an additional 14,674 shares in the last quarter. GSA Capital Partners LLP acquired a new stake in shares of Sempra in the first quarter valued at approximately $815,000. Magnetar Financial LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Sempra in the first quarter valued at approximately $2,293,000. Forsta AP Fonden grew its position in shares of Sempra by 13.7% in the first quarter. Forsta AP Fonden now owns 117,200 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $8,418,000 after purchasing an additional 14,100 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Perpetual Ltd grew its position in shares of Sempra by 4.8% in the first quarter. Perpetual Ltd now owns 2,891,026 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $207,662,000 after purchasing an additional 133,119 shares during the last quarter. 89.65% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Sempra Stock Performance

Shares of SRE stock opened at $83.18 on Monday. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $80.40 and its 200-day simple moving average is $75.96. Sempra has a 52 week low of $63.75 and a 52 week high of $84.29. The company has a current ratio of 0.46, a quick ratio of 0.41 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.84. The company has a market cap of $52.42 billion, a PE ratio of 18.44, a P/E/G ratio of 2.65 and a beta of 0.75.

Sempra (NYSE:SRE) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, August 6th. The utilities provider reported $0.89 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.92 by ($0.03). The firm had revenue of $3.01 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.46 billion. Sempra had a return on equity of 8.58% and a net margin of 22.31%. The business’s quarterly revenue was down 9.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm earned $0.94 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Sempra will post 4.79 EPS for the current year.

Sempra Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, October 15th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, September 26th will be issued a dividend of $0.62 per share. This represents a $2.48 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.98%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, September 26th. Sempra’s dividend payout ratio is currently 54.99%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts have recently commented on the stock. Evercore ISI increased their price target on shares of Sempra from $83.00 to $84.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 7th. BMO Capital Markets increased their price target 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. Barclays increased their price target on shares of Sempra from $81.00 to $87.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 13th. LADENBURG THALM/SH SH lowered their price target on shares of Sempra from $81.50 to $79.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, May 29th. Finally, Morgan Stanley increased their price target on shares of Sempra from $77.00 to $80.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, August 23rd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has given a hold rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $85.00.

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.