U.S. Capital Wealth Advisors LLC Purchases New Holdings in Sempra (NYSE:SRE)

U.S. Capital Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Sempra (NYSE:SRE) during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund acquired 69,399 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $5,186,000.

A number of other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the business. Turtle Creek Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Sempra in the 4th quarter valued at about $28,000. Essex Investment Management Co. LLC increased its stake in shares of Sempra by 100.0% in the third quarter. Essex Investment Management Co. LLC now owns 390 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $27,000 after acquiring an additional 195 shares during the last quarter. Monetary Management Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Sempra by 100.0% during the third quarter. Monetary Management Group Inc. now owns 400 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $27,000 after acquiring an additional 200 shares in the last quarter. Wolverine Asset Management LLC boosted its position in Sempra by 100.0% during the third quarter. Wolverine Asset Management LLC now owns 400 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $27,000 after purchasing an additional 200 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Spire Wealth Management increased its position in Sempra by 85.6% in the 3rd quarter. Spire Wealth Management now owns 412 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $28,000 after purchasing an additional 190 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 89.65% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

SRE has been the subject of several recent research reports. Royal Bank of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $82.00 target price on shares of Sempra in a research report on Wednesday, March 6th. StockNews.com cut Sempra from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 20th. Mizuho reduced their target price on Sempra from $83.00 to $79.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, January 25th. Morgan Stanley increased their price target on Sempra from $74.00 to $75.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, March 21st. Finally, Barclays upped their price objective on shares of Sempra from $77.00 to $79.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, March 14th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has issued a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Sempra has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $82.14.

Insider Activity

In related news, EVP Justin Christopher Bird sold 5,063 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $71.22, for a total transaction of $360,586.86. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 19,712 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,403,888.64. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In other Sempra news, EVP Justin Christopher Bird sold 5,063 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $71.22, for a total value of $360,586.86. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 19,712 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,403,888.64. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, VP Trevor I. Mihalik sold 57,571 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $70.59, for a total transaction of $4,063,936.89. Following the transaction, the vice president now owns 10,922 shares in the company, valued at $770,983.98. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 122,432 shares of company stock worth $8,668,035. Insiders own 0.24% of the company’s stock.

Sempra Stock Performance

Shares of SRE traded up $0.05 on Friday, reaching $72.92. 3,451,910 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 3,043,445. The firm has a market cap of $46.10 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.22, a P/E/G ratio of 2.52 and a beta of 0.70. Sempra has a 12 month low of $63.75 and a 12 month high of $78.70. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $70.65 and its 200-day moving average price is $71.78. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.85, a current ratio of 0.54 and a quick ratio of 0.49.

Sempra (NYSE:SRE) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, February 27th. The utilities provider reported $1.13 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.11 by $0.02. Sempra had a return on equity of 9.45% and a net margin of 18.26%. The business had revenue of $3.49 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.01 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $1.17 EPS. Sempra’s quarterly revenue was up 1.0% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts forecast that Sempra will post 4.82 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Sempra Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, April 15th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, March 21st were issued a dividend of $0.62 per share. This is a positive change from Sempra’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.60. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, March 20th. This represents a $2.48 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.40%. Sempra’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 51.77%.

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.