Merit Financial Group LLC Purchases Shares of 4,095 Sempra (NYSE:SRE)

Merit Financial Group LLC acquired a new position in Sempra (NYSE:SRE) in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor acquired 4,095 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $359,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in SRE. FMR LLC raised its stake in shares of Sempra by 9.1% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 18,978,605 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,587,181,000 after purchasing an additional 1,582,653 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp raised its holdings in Sempra by 4.9% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 32,940,620 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $2,774,974,000 after purchasing an additional 1,539,026 shares in the last quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC lifted its position in Sempra by 6.9% in the second quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC now owns 13,452,912 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,023,228,000 after purchasing an additional 874,133 shares during the period. National Bank of Canada FI raised its stake in shares of Sempra by 201.2% in the 3rd quarter. National Bank of Canada FI now owns 620,394 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $51,882,000 after buying an additional 414,406 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Unigestion Holding SA acquired a new stake in shares of Sempra in the third quarter valued at $33,023,000. 89.65% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Sempra Trading Down 0.0 %

Sempra stock opened at $82.78 on Friday. Sempra has a 12 month low of $66.40 and a 12 month high of $95.77. The company has a quick ratio of 0.47, a current ratio of 0.52 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.89. The stock has a market cap of $52.43 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.23, a P/E/G ratio of 2.10 and a beta of 0.78. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $87.91 and its 200-day simple moving average is $84.05.

Sempra (NYSE:SRE) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, November 6th. The utilities provider reported $0.89 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.05 by ($0.16). Sempra had a net margin of 22.63% and a return on equity of 8.06%. The firm had revenue of $2.78 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.54 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $1.08 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 16.7% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Sempra will post 4.77 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Sempra Announces Dividend

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

Analysts Set New Price Targets

SRE has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Evercore ISI upped their price target on shares of Sempra from $84.00 to $88.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, November 7th. Jefferies Financial Group initiated coverage on Sempra in a research report on Thursday, October 24th. They set a “buy” rating and a $98.00 price objective for the company. BMO Capital Markets increased their price target on Sempra from $93.00 to $96.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, October 21st. Barclays boosted their price objective on Sempra from $89.00 to $99.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, December 2nd. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on shares of Sempra from $87.00 to $96.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 7th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $91.60.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Sempra news, VP Trevor I. Mihalik sold 23,713 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated 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 transaction, the vice president now directly owns 11,190 shares in the company, valued at $1,041,677.10. This trade represents a 67.94 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. 0.24% of the stock is currently owned by corporate 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.