Procyon Advisors LLC Increases Stock Position in Sempra (NYSE:SRE)

Procyon Advisors LLC boosted its stake in Sempra (NYSE:SRE - Free Report) by 23.6% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 74,151 shares of the utilities provider's stock after purchasing an additional 14,169 shares during the period. Procyon Advisors LLC's holdings in Sempra were worth $5,203,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. A. D. Beadell Investment Counsel Inc. boosted its position in Sempra by 289.2% in the 1st quarter. A. D. Beadell Investment Counsel Inc. now owns 26,370 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $1,881,000 after buying an additional 19,595 shares during the period. Stablepoint Partners LLC boosted its position in Sempra by 9.4% in the 1st quarter. Stablepoint Partners LLC now owns 18,521 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $1,322,000 after buying an additional 1,585 shares during the period. Generali Investments Management Co LLC boosted its position in Sempra by 80.7% in the 1st quarter. Generali Investments Management Co LLC now owns 34,322 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $2,449,000 after buying an additional 15,332 shares during the period. Signal Advisors Wealth LLC purchased a new position in Sempra in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $373,000. Finally, Thurston Springer Miller Herd & Titak Inc. boosted its position in Sempra by 24.9% in the 1st quarter. Thurston Springer Miller Herd & Titak Inc. now owns 8,038 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $574,000 after buying an additional 1,603 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 89.65% of the company's stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, Director Pablo Ferrero bought 2,600 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, March 17th. The shares were bought at an average cost of $70.96 per share, for a total transaction of $184,496.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 15,649 shares of the company's stock, valued at $1,110,453.04. This represents a 19.92% increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Director James C. Yardley purchased 5,019 shares of Sempra stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 12th. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $69.74 per share, for a total transaction of $350,025.06. Following the acquisition, the director now directly owns 5,019 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $350,025.06. This represents a ∞ increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. 0.27% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts have commented on SRE shares. Argus cut shares of Sempra from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 18th. Mizuho decreased their price objective on shares of Sempra from $92.00 to $76.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, February 26th. The Goldman Sachs Group cut shares of Sempra from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating and decreased their price objective for the stock from $99.00 to $76.00 in a research report on Wednesday, February 26th. Morgan Stanley set a $87.00 price objective on shares of Sempra and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research report on Thursday, May 22nd. Finally, Barclays cut shares of Sempra from an "overweight" rating to an "equal weight" rating and decreased their price objective for the stock from $95.00 to $72.00 in a research report on Thursday, February 27th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $80.75.

Sempra Stock Performance

NYSE SRE traded down $2.21 during trading on Monday, reaching $74.64. The company's stock had a trading volume of 6,236,972 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,782,434. Sempra has a twelve month low of $61.90 and a twelve month high of $95.77. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.89, a quick ratio of 0.47 and a current ratio of 0.52. The business's fifty day moving average price is $73.73 and its 200-day moving average price is $78.90. The firm has a market cap of $48.66 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.44, a P/E/G ratio of 2.19 and a beta of 0.64.

Sempra (NYSE:SRE - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 8th. The utilities provider reported $1.44 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $1.32 by $0.12. Sempra had a net margin of 22.63% and a return on equity of 8.06%. The business had revenue of $3.80 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.90 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $1.34 earnings per share. The business's revenue was up 4.5% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts anticipate that Sempra will post 4.76 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Sempra Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, July 15th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, June 26th will be given a dividend of $0.645 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, June 26th. This represents a $2.58 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.46%. Sempra's payout ratio is currently 56.70%.

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.