Greenwood Capital Associates LLC Purchases New Shares in Sempra (NYSE:SRE)

Greenwood Capital Associates LLC purchased a new stake in Sempra (NYSE:SRE) in the third quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor purchased 13,914 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $1,164,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the stock. Clearbridge Investments LLC boosted its position in Sempra by 6.9% during the 2nd quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC now owns 13,452,912 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,023,228,000 after acquiring an additional 874,133 shares during the period. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale boosted its position in Sempra by 2.1% during the 2nd quarter. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale now owns 2,404,573 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $182,158,000 after acquiring an additional 48,592 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its position in Sempra by 19.7% during the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,757,553 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $133,679,000 after acquiring an additional 289,731 shares during the period. Hsbc Holdings PLC boosted its position in Sempra by 1.6% during the 2nd quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC now owns 1,659,618 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $126,246,000 after acquiring an additional 26,862 shares during the period. Finally, Zimmer Partners LP boosted its position in Sempra by 96.9% during the 1st quarter. Zimmer Partners LP now owns 1,636,202 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $117,528,000 after acquiring an additional 805,084 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 89.65% of the company’s stock.

Sempra Stock Up 1.7 %

Shares of SRE stock opened at $82.22 on Wednesday. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $83.12 and its 200 day simple moving average is $78.93. 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 twelve month low of $66.40 and a twelve month high of $86.57. The company has a market capitalization of $52.06 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.57, a PEG ratio of 2.61 and a beta of 0.75.

Sempra (NYSE:SRE) last issued its quarterly earnings data 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 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 the consensus estimate of $3.46 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $0.94 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was down 9.7% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts predict that Sempra will post 4.77 EPS for the current year.

Sempra Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, October 15th. Investors of record on Thursday, September 26th were paid a $0.62 dividend. This represents a $2.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.02%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, September 26th. Sempra’s payout ratio is 52.99%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have commented on SRE shares. BMO Capital Markets raised their price objective on Sempra from $93.00 to $96.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, October 21st. Morgan Stanley lifted their price target on Sempra from $80.00 to $85.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday, September 25th. Jefferies Financial Group began coverage on Sempra in a report on Thursday, October 24th. They set a “buy” rating and a $98.00 price target for the company. Evercore ISI lifted their price target on Sempra from $83.00 to $84.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, August 7th. Finally, Bank of America began coverage on Sempra in a report on Thursday, September 12th. They set a “buy” rating and a $94.00 price target for the company. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has given a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Sempra presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $87.55.

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.