Qsemble Capital Management LP Purchases New Position in Sempra (NYSE:SRE)

Qsemble Capital Management LP acquired a new position in Sempra (NYSE:SRE) during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund acquired 14,707 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $1,230,000.

Other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Clearbridge Investments LLC increased its holdings in shares of Sempra by 6.9% in the 2nd quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC now owns 13,452,912 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,023,228,000 after buying an additional 874,133 shares during the last quarter. Bank of Montreal Can lifted its stake in shares of Sempra by 38.3% in the 3rd quarter. Bank of Montreal Can now owns 1,420,045 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $118,219,000 after purchasing an additional 393,277 shares during the last quarter. Swedbank AB bought a new stake in shares of Sempra in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $27,338,000. Citigroup Inc. increased its position in shares of Sempra by 27.3% during the 3rd quarter. Citigroup Inc. now owns 1,622,786 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $135,714,000 after purchasing an additional 347,625 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Zurich Insurance Group Ltd FI bought a new position in shares of Sempra during the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $23,056,000. 89.65% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have weighed in on SRE. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective 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. Barclays increased their price objective on shares of Sempra from $87.00 to $89.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 1st. Morgan Stanley raised their price objective on shares of Sempra from $80.00 to $85.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, September 25th. Evercore ISI increased their price target on Sempra from $84.00 to $88.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, November 7th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets raised their price target on Sempra from $93.00 to $96.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, October 21st. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has issued a hold rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Sempra presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $89.00.

Sempra Trading Down 1.6 %

NYSE SRE opened at $93.28 on Wednesday. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $86.07 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $80.97. Sempra has a one year low of $66.40 and a one year high of $95.77. The company has a market capitalization of $59.08 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.55, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.60 and a beta of 0.75. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.89, a quick ratio of 0.47 and a current ratio of 0.52.

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

Sempra Dividend Announcement

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

Insider Transactions at Sempra

In related news, VP Trevor I. Mihalik sold 23,713 shares of the company’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 of the company’s stock, valued at $1,041,677.10. This represents a 67.94 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Insiders own 0.27% of the company’s stock.

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.