Pinnacle Associates Ltd. Takes Position in Sempra (NYSE:SRE)

Pinnacle Associates Ltd. bought a new stake in Sempra (NYSE:SRE) during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor bought 2,970 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $248,000.

A number of other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. First Trust Direct Indexing L.P. grew its position in Sempra by 38.2% during the third quarter. First Trust Direct Indexing L.P. now owns 28,306 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $2,367,000 after acquiring an additional 7,823 shares during the last quarter. Edge Financial Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Sempra in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $382,000. AMI Asset Management Corp purchased a new stake in shares of Sempra in the 3rd quarter valued at $569,000. abrdn plc grew its holdings in shares of Sempra by 7.2% during the 3rd quarter. abrdn plc now owns 303,786 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $25,280,000 after purchasing an additional 20,423 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Nisa Investment Advisors LLC raised its position in Sempra by 89.7% in the 3rd quarter. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC now owns 248,536 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $20,939,000 after purchasing an additional 117,543 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 89.65% of the company’s stock.

Sempra Price Performance

Shares of Sempra stock opened at $81.65 on Monday. The business has a 50 day moving average of $83.14 and a 200 day moving average of $78.76. Sempra has a 52 week low of $66.40 and a 52 week high of $86.57. The company has a market cap of $51.70 billion, a PE ratio of 17.45, a P/E/G ratio of 2.66 and a beta of 0.75. The company has a quick ratio of 0.41, a current ratio of 0.46 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.84.

Sempra (NYSE:SRE) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, August 6th. The utilities provider reported $0.89 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.92 by ($0.03). The company had revenue of $3.01 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.46 billion. Sempra had a return on equity of 8.58% and a net margin of 22.31%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 9.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $0.94 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Sempra will post 4.77 earnings per share for the current year.

Sempra Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, October 15th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, September 26th were issued a $0.62 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, September 26th. This represents a $2.48 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.04%. Sempra’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 52.99%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have issued reports on SRE. Morgan Stanley upped their price target on shares of Sempra from $80.00 to $85.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, September 25th. Evercore ISI increased their target price on Sempra from $83.00 to $84.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, August 7th. Bank of America began coverage on Sempra in a research report on Thursday, September 12th. They set a “buy” rating and a $94.00 price target on the stock. Barclays boosted their price objective on Sempra from $87.00 to $89.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 1st. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group initiated coverage on shares of Sempra in a report on Thursday, October 24th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $98.00 target price on the stock. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has issued a hold rating and ten have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus 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.