Quest Partners LLC Makes New $81,000 Investment in Sempra (NYSE:SRE)

Quest Partners LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Sempra (NYSE:SRE) in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor acquired 972 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $81,000.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the business. B. Riley Wealth Advisors Inc. boosted its holdings in Sempra by 36.2% in the first quarter. B. Riley Wealth Advisors Inc. now owns 13,766 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $945,000 after acquiring an additional 3,658 shares in the last quarter. iA Global Asset Management Inc. boosted its stake in Sempra by 30.4% in the 1st quarter. iA Global Asset Management Inc. now owns 6,984 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $502,000 after purchasing an additional 1,629 shares in the last quarter. Atria Investments Inc grew its position in Sempra by 12.0% during the 1st quarter. Atria Investments Inc now owns 39,800 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $2,859,000 after purchasing an additional 4,258 shares during the last quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers increased its stake in Sempra by 266.8% during the 1st quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 117,211 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $8,419,000 after purchasing an additional 85,254 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Cetera Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of Sempra by 114.5% in the first quarter. Cetera Advisors LLC now owns 29,112 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $2,091,000 after buying an additional 15,542 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 89.65% of the company’s stock.

Sempra Stock Performance

SRE opened at $93.77 on Friday. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $86.75 and a 200 day moving average price of $81.27. Sempra has a 1 year low of $66.40 and a 1 year high of $95.77. The stock has a market cap of $59.39 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.65, a P/E/G ratio of 2.59 and a beta of 0.75. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.89, a current ratio of 0.52 and a quick ratio of 0.47.

Sempra (NYSE:SRE) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, November 6th. The utilities provider reported $0.89 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.05 by ($0.16). Sempra had a return on equity of 8.06% and a net margin of 22.63%. The firm had revenue of $2.78 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.54 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $1.08 EPS. The company’s revenue was down 16.7% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts anticipate that Sempra will post 4.77 earnings per share for the current year.

Sempra Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, January 15th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, December 5th will be issued a $0.62 dividend. This represents a $2.48 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.64%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, December 5th. Sempra’s payout ratio is currently 54.63%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have recently weighed in on SRE. BMO Capital Markets boosted their price objective on shares of Sempra from $93.00 to $96.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, October 21st. Jefferies Financial Group assumed coverage on Sempra in a research note on Thursday, October 24th. They set a “buy” rating and a $98.00 price target on the stock. Evercore ISI raised their price objective on Sempra from $84.00 to $88.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 7th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price on Sempra from $87.00 to $96.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 7th. Finally, Morgan Stanley raised their price target on shares of Sempra from $80.00 to $85.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, September 25th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has given a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Sempra currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $89.00.

Insider Activity

In other news, VP Trevor I. Mihalik sold 23,713 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, November 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $93.09, for a total transaction of $2,207,443.17. Following the transaction, the vice president now owns 11,190 shares in the company, valued at $1,041,677.10. This trade represents a 67.94 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Company insiders own 0.24% of the company’s stock.

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.