Stordahl Capital Management Inc. Invests $257,000 in Sempra (NYSE:SRE)

Stordahl Capital Management Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Sempra (NYSE:SRE) during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund bought 2,935 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $257,000.

Other large investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Private Advisor Group LLC lifted its position in Sempra by 1.6% during the third quarter. Private Advisor Group LLC now owns 8,742 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $731,000 after buying an additional 139 shares during the period. LVM Capital Management Ltd. MI raised its stake in Sempra by 2.4% during the fourth quarter. LVM Capital Management Ltd. MI now owns 6,677 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $586,000 after purchasing an additional 155 shares during the period. Kingsview Wealth Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Sempra by 0.3% in the 3rd quarter. Kingsview Wealth Management LLC now owns 46,518 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $3,890,000 after purchasing an additional 158 shares during the last quarter. CX Institutional grew its stake in shares of Sempra by 5.5% during the 3rd quarter. CX Institutional now owns 3,083 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $258,000 after buying an additional 161 shares during the period. Finally, Rosenberg Matthew Hamilton increased its holdings in shares of Sempra by 4.2% during the 3rd quarter. Rosenberg Matthew Hamilton now owns 4,031 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $337,000 after buying an additional 163 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 89.65% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Sempra

In other Sempra news, VP Trevor I. Mihalik sold 23,713 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, November 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $93.09, for a total value of $2,207,443.17. Following the sale, the vice president now directly owns 11,190 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,041,677.10. The trade was a 67.94 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. 0.24% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

SRE has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their target price on Sempra from $87.00 to $96.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, November 7th. Evercore ISI increased their price objective on shares of Sempra from $84.00 to $88.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 7th. Jefferies Financial Group began 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. Morgan Stanley upgraded Sempra from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and increased their target price for the company from $85.00 to $98.00 in a research note on Friday, December 13th. Finally, Barclays reduced their price target on Sempra from $99.00 to $95.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday. 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, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $91.20.

Sempra Trading Up 0.4 %

SRE opened at $82.09 on Thursday. The stock has a market capitalization of $51.99 billion, a PE ratio of 18.08, a P/E/G ratio of 2.10 and a beta of 0.78. 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 has a 12-month low of $66.40 and a 12-month high of $95.77. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $87.28 and its 200 day moving average price is $84.28.

Sempra (NYSE:SRE) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, November 6th. The utilities provider reported $0.89 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.05 by ($0.16). The company had revenue of $2.78 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.54 billion. Sempra had a net margin of 22.63% and a return on equity of 8.06%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 16.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company posted $1.08 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts expect that Sempra will post 4.77 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Sempra Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, January 15th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, December 5th were given a dividend of $0.62 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, December 5th. This represents a $2.48 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.02%. Sempra’s dividend payout ratio is presently 54.63%.

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.