Janney Montgomery Scott LLC Increases Holdings in Sempra (NYSE:SRE)

Janney Montgomery Scott LLC increased its holdings in shares of Sempra (NYSE:SRE) by 4.8% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 290,291 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 13,343 shares during the quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC’s holdings in Sempra were worth $25,464,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. AE Wealth Management LLC grew its holdings in Sempra by 41.0% during the 2nd quarter. AE Wealth Management LLC now owns 7,347 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $559,000 after buying an additional 2,136 shares in the last quarter. Fred Alger Management LLC increased its holdings in Sempra by 4.2% in the 2nd quarter. Fred Alger Management LLC now owns 45,025 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $3,425,000 after acquiring an additional 1,808 shares during the last quarter. Point72 Asia Singapore Pte. Ltd. bought a new stake in Sempra in the 2nd quarter valued at $199,000. Caxton Associates LP purchased a new stake in Sempra in the 2nd quarter worth $201,000. Finally, AQR Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Sempra by 173.6% in the second quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 209,735 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $15,952,000 after purchasing an additional 133,085 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 89.65% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have weighed in on SRE. Evercore ISI raised their price target on Sempra from $84.00 to $88.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, November 7th. Morgan Stanley upgraded shares of Sempra from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and upped their target price for the company from $85.00 to $98.00 in a research report on Friday, December 13th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price target on shares of Sempra from $87.00 to $96.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, November 7th. Jefferies Financial Group started coverage on Sempra in a research note on Thursday, October 24th. They set a “buy” rating and a $98.00 price objective on the stock. Finally, BMO Capital Markets raised their price objective on Sempra from $93.00 to $96.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, October 21st. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Sempra presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $91.60.

Sempra Trading Down 0.0 %

SRE opened at $82.78 on Friday. Sempra has a one year low of $66.40 and a one year high of $95.77. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.89, a quick ratio of 0.47 and a current ratio of 0.52. The stock has a market cap of $52.43 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.23, a P/E/G ratio of 2.10 and a beta of 0.78. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $87.91 and its 200-day moving average price is $84.05.

Sempra (NYSE:SRE) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, November 6th. The utilities provider reported $0.89 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.05 by ($0.16). Sempra had a net margin of 22.63% and a return on equity of 8.06%. The business had revenue of $2.78 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.54 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $1.08 EPS. The business’s revenue was down 16.7% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts forecast that Sempra will post 4.77 EPS for the current year.

Sempra Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, January 15th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, December 5th were given a $0.62 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, December 5th. This represents a $2.48 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.00%. Sempra’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 54.63%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Sempra news, VP Trevor I. Mihalik sold 23,713 shares of Sempra stock in a transaction 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 directly owns 11,190 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,041,677.10. The trade was a 67.94 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. 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.