Financial Management Professionals Inc. Boosts Stake in Sempra (NYSE:SRE)

Financial Management Professionals Inc. grew its stake in shares of Sempra (NYSE:SRE) by 13.8% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 7,187 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after buying an additional 869 shares during the period. Financial Management Professionals Inc.’s holdings in Sempra were worth $630,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Jackson Square Capital LLC grew its holdings in shares of Sempra by 16.2% during the fourth quarter. Jackson Square Capital LLC now owns 5,155 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $452,000 after buying an additional 717 shares in the last quarter. Ameritas Advisory Services LLC purchased a new stake in Sempra in the 4th quarter worth approximately $534,000. HB Wealth Management LLC grew its stake in Sempra by 24.1% in the 4th quarter. HB Wealth Management LLC now owns 18,787 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,648,000 after acquiring an additional 3,650 shares during the period. Arkadios Wealth Advisors raised its holdings in Sempra by 23.2% in the 4th quarter. Arkadios Wealth Advisors now owns 5,178 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $454,000 after acquiring an additional 975 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Brooklyn Investment Group lifted its stake in shares of Sempra by 8.5% during the 4th quarter. Brooklyn Investment Group now owns 3,917 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $344,000 after purchasing an additional 308 shares during the period. 89.65% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

SRE has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. BMO Capital Markets lifted their price objective on Sempra from $93.00 to $96.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, October 21st. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price target on Sempra from $87.00 to $96.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, November 7th. Barclays raised their target price on shares of Sempra from $89.00 to $99.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, December 2nd. Jefferies Financial Group began coverage on shares of Sempra in a research note on Thursday, October 24th. They set a “buy” rating and a $98.00 price objective for the company. Finally, Morgan Stanley raised Sempra from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and increased their target price for the stock from $85.00 to $98.00 in a research report on Friday, December 13th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $91.60.

Sempra Trading Up 1.5 %

Shares of SRE opened at $85.24 on Friday. Sempra has a 12 month low of $66.40 and a 12 month high of $95.77. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $88.50 and its two-hundred day moving average is $83.80. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.89, a current ratio of 0.52 and a quick ratio of 0.47. The stock has a market cap of $53.99 billion, a PE ratio of 18.77, a P/E/G ratio of 2.00 and a beta of 0.78.

Sempra (NYSE:SRE) last released its quarterly earnings results 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 company had revenue of $2.78 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.54 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $1.08 EPS. The firm’s revenue was down 16.7% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts forecast that Sempra will post 4.77 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Sempra Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, January 15th. Investors of record on Thursday, December 5th were issued a dividend of $0.62 per share. This represents a $2.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.91%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, December 5th. Sempra’s payout ratio is 54.63%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Sempra news, VP Trevor I. Mihalik sold 23,713 shares of the firm’s 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 completion of the sale, 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 document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. 0.27% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Sempra Company 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.