King Luther Capital Management Corp Cuts Holdings in Sempra (NYSE:SRE)

King Luther Capital Management Corp reduced its position in shares of Sempra (NYSE:SRE) by 20.5% during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 2,787 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 717 shares during the quarter. King Luther Capital Management Corp’s holdings in Sempra were worth $212,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of SRE. Family Firm Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Sempra during the second quarter worth about $30,000. Ashton Thomas Private Wealth LLC purchased a new position in shares of Sempra in the second quarter valued at approximately $33,000. Financial Connections Group Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Sempra in the second quarter worth approximately $34,000. SouthState Corp increased its position in shares of Sempra by 900.0% during the second quarter. SouthState Corp now owns 470 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $36,000 after purchasing an additional 423 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Opal Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Sempra in the 2nd quarter valued at $39,000. 89.65% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have recently issued reports on SRE. LADENBURG THALM/SH SH dropped their target price on shares of Sempra from $81.50 to $79.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, May 29th. Morgan Stanley increased their price objective on shares of Sempra from $77.00 to $80.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, August 23rd. Evercore ISI boosted their target price on Sempra from $83.00 to $84.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, August 7th. Barclays upped their price target on Sempra from $81.00 to $87.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 13th. Finally, Bank of America initiated coverage on Sempra in a research note on Thursday, September 12th. They set a “buy” rating and a $94.00 price objective on the stock. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has given a hold rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Sempra currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $85.00.

Sempra Stock Up 1.1 %

Shares of NYSE:SRE opened at $84.06 on Tuesday. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $80.56 and a 200 day moving average price of $76.05. Sempra has a 12-month low of $63.75 and a 12-month 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 capitalization of $52.97 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.64, a PEG 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 analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.92 by ($0.03). Sempra had a net margin of 22.31% and a return on equity of 8.58%. The company had revenue of $3.01 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.46 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.94 earnings per share. Sempra’s revenue was down 9.7% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts expect that Sempra will post 4.79 EPS for the current year.

Sempra Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed 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. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, September 26th. This represents a $2.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.95%. Sempra’s payout ratio is presently 54.99%.

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.