Maridea Wealth Management LLC Invests $282,000 in Sempra (NYSE:SRE)

Maridea Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in Sempra (NYSE:SRE) in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund bought 3,218 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $282,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Lindbrook Capital LLC grew its stake in shares of Sempra by 5.4% in the fourth quarter. Lindbrook Capital LLC now owns 2,410 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $211,000 after buying an additional 124 shares in the last quarter. Pinnacle West Asset Management Inc. boosted its holdings in Sempra by 5.1% during the 4th quarter. Pinnacle West Asset Management Inc. now owns 2,585 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $227,000 after acquiring an additional 125 shares during the period. Avantax Planning Partners Inc. grew its position in Sempra by 2.0% in the 4th quarter. Avantax Planning Partners Inc. now owns 7,423 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $651,000 after acquiring an additional 147 shares in the last quarter. LVM Capital Management Ltd. MI increased 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. Finally, IFP Advisors Inc lifted its position in shares of Sempra by 5.2% during the fourth quarter. IFP Advisors Inc now owns 3,210 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $295,000 after purchasing an additional 159 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 89.65% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

SRE has been the subject of a number of research reports. BMO Capital Markets dropped their price objective on shares of Sempra from $92.00 to $78.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, March 4th. Guggenheim cut their price objective on Sempra from $95.00 to $87.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, February 26th. The Goldman Sachs Group lowered Sempra from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and decreased their target price for the company from $99.00 to $76.00 in a report on Wednesday, February 26th. Jefferies Financial Group restated a “hold” rating and set a $77.00 price target (down previously from $96.00) on shares of Sempra in a report on Monday, March 3rd. Finally, Argus cut Sempra from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 18th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Sempra currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $81.33.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Sempra news, Director Michael N. Mears acquired 1,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, March 10th. The shares were bought at an average cost of $67.70 per share, with a total value of $67,700.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 5,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $338,500. This trade represents a 25.00 % increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Director Pablo Ferrero bought 2,600 shares of Sempra stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 17th. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $70.96 per share, with a total value of $184,496.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director now directly owns 15,649 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,110,453.04. The trade was a 19.92 % increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Insiders have bought a total of 9,319 shares of company stock valued at $651,676 over the last quarter. Company insiders own 0.24% of the company’s stock.

Sempra Stock Down 0.6 %

Shares of NYSE:SRE opened at $69.65 on Friday. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $77.23 and a 200-day simple moving average of $83.13. Sempra has a twelve month low of $64.89 and a twelve month high of $95.77. The company has a current ratio of 0.52, a quick ratio of 0.47 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.89. The company has a market capitalization of $45.37 billion, a PE ratio of 15.34, a P/E/G ratio of 2.19 and a beta of 0.76.

Sempra (NYSE:SRE) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 25th. The utilities provider reported $1.50 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.47 by $0.03. The firm had revenue of $3.76 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.73 billion. Sempra had a net margin of 22.63% and a return on equity of 8.06%. Sempra’s quarterly revenue was up 7.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $1.13 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts predict that Sempra will post 4.76 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Sempra Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 15th. Investors of record on Thursday, March 20th will be paid a dividend of $0.645 per share. This represents a $2.58 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.70%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, March 20th. This is an increase from Sempra’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.62. Sempra’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 58.37%.

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.