Newport Trust Company LLC Cuts Position in Sempra (NYSE:SRE)

Newport Trust Company LLC decreased its stake in shares of Sempra (NYSE:SRE) by 2.1% during the second quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 13,788,073 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 292,760 shares during the period. Sempra makes up 2.6% of Newport Trust Company LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 10th largest holding. Newport Trust Company LLC owned approximately 2.19% of Sempra worth $1,048,721,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other large investors have also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Family Firm Inc. bought a new stake in Sempra during the second quarter worth about $30,000. Ashton Thomas Private Wealth LLC bought a new stake in Sempra during the second quarter worth about $33,000. Financial Connections Group Inc. bought a new stake in Sempra during the second quarter worth about $34,000. SouthState Corp boosted its stake in Sempra by 900.0% during the second quarter. SouthState Corp now owns 470 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $36,000 after acquiring an additional 423 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Opal Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Sempra during the second quarter worth about $39,000. Institutional investors own 89.65% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts have recently issued reports on SRE shares. Evercore ISI upped their target price on shares of Sempra from $83.00 to $84.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 7th. BMO Capital Markets upped their target price on shares of Sempra from $90.00 to $93.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, September 12th. Barclays upped their target price on shares of Sempra from $81.00 to $87.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 13th. Morgan Stanley upped their target price on shares of Sempra from $77.00 to $80.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, August 23rd. Finally, Bank of America started coverage on shares of Sempra in a research note on Thursday, September 12th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $94.00 target price on the stock. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has assigned a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $85.00.

Sempra Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:SRE opened at $82.51 on Friday. Sempra has a fifty-two week low of $63.75 and a fifty-two week high of $84.29. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.84, a quick ratio of 0.41 and a current ratio of 0.46. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $80.27 and a 200 day moving average price of $75.80. The firm has a market cap of $52.24 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.27, a P/E/G ratio of 2.84 and a beta of 0.75.

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

Sempra Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, October 15th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, September 26th will be paid a $0.62 dividend. This represents a $2.48 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.01%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, September 26th. Sempra’s dividend payout ratio is currently 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.