Larson Financial Group LLC Trims Stock Holdings in Sempra (NYSE:SRE)

Larson Financial Group LLC lowered its position in shares of Sempra (NYSE:SRE) by 16.7% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 4,995 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 998 shares during the quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC’s holdings in Sempra were worth $418,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC increased its holdings in shares of Sempra by 10.0% during the second quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC now owns 135,621 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $10,315,000 after acquiring an additional 12,346 shares in the last quarter. Dai ichi Life Insurance Company Ltd increased its stake in Sempra by 319.5% during the 2nd quarter. Dai ichi Life Insurance Company Ltd now owns 196,954 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $14,980,000 after purchasing an additional 150,000 shares in the last quarter. TCW Group Inc. raised its holdings in Sempra by 28.2% in the second quarter. TCW Group Inc. now owns 67,765 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $5,154,000 after buying an additional 14,890 shares during the last quarter. Coppell Advisory Solutions Corp. bought a new position in shares of Sempra in the first quarter worth approximately $621,000. Finally, PNC Financial Services Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Sempra by 1.9% during the third quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 357,107 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $29,865,000 after buying an additional 6,709 shares during the last quarter. 89.65% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Sempra news, VP Trevor I. Mihalik sold 23,713 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 transaction, the vice president now owns 11,190 shares in the company, valued at $1,041,677.10. This trade represents a 67.94 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Corporate insiders own 0.24% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

SRE has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Bank of America assumed coverage on Sempra in a research note on Thursday, September 12th. They set a “buy” rating and a $94.00 target price on the stock. BMO Capital Markets increased their price objective on Sempra from $93.00 to $96.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, October 21st. Morgan Stanley boosted their target price on Sempra from $80.00 to $85.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, September 25th. Jefferies Financial Group initiated coverage on shares of Sempra in a report on Thursday, October 24th. They set a “buy” rating and a $98.00 price target on the stock. Finally, Evercore ISI boosted their price objective on shares of Sempra from $84.00 to $88.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, November 7th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has given a hold rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $89.00.

Sempra Stock Performance

NYSE SRE opened at $93.28 on Wednesday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.47, a current ratio of 0.52 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.89. Sempra has a twelve month low of $66.40 and a twelve month high of $95.77. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $86.07 and a 200-day moving average price of $80.97. The firm has a market cap of $59.08 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.55, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.59 and a beta of 0.75.

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

Sempra Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, January 15th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, December 5th will be issued a $0.62 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, December 5th. This represents a $2.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.66%. Sempra’s dividend payout ratio is currently 54.63%.

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.