Stratos Wealth Partners LTD. Increases Stake in Sempra (NYSE:SRE)

Stratos Wealth Partners LTD. grew its position in Sempra (NYSE:SRE) by 51.1% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 30,585 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after buying an additional 10,350 shares during the period. Stratos Wealth Partners LTD.’s holdings in Sempra were worth $2,683,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Unigestion Holding SA purchased a new stake in Sempra during the 3rd quarter valued at $33,023,000. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. boosted its position in shares of Sempra by 633.4% during the fourth quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. now owns 29,917 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $2,624,000 after buying an additional 25,838 shares during the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its holdings in Sempra by 8.8% in the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 3,428,132 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $286,695,000 after buying an additional 278,183 shares in the last quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. raised its position in Sempra by 1.9% in the 3rd quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 357,107 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $29,865,000 after buying an additional 6,709 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Kovitz Investment Group Partners LLC bought a new position in Sempra during the 3rd quarter valued at about $675,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 89.65% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts have recently commented on the stock. Evercore ISI lifted their price target on shares of Sempra from $84.00 to $88.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 7th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on Sempra from $87.00 to $96.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 7th. BMO Capital Markets upped 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. Jefferies Financial Group initiated coverage on Sempra in a research report on Thursday, October 24th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $98.00 target price on the stock. Finally, Morgan Stanley raised shares of Sempra from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and upped their price target for the company from $85.00 to $98.00 in a research report on Friday, December 13th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating and ten have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $91.20.

Sempra Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:SRE opened at $81.94 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $51.90 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.05, a P/E/G ratio of 2.11 and a beta of 0.78. Sempra has a 1-year low of $66.40 and a 1-year high of $95.77. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $85.64 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $84.44. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.89, a current ratio of 0.52 and a quick ratio of 0.47.

Sempra (NYSE:SRE) last issued its 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 firm 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 quarterly revenue was down 16.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $1.08 EPS. Research analysts expect that Sempra will post 4.77 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Transactions at Sempra

In related news, VP Trevor I. Mihalik sold 23,713 shares of the business’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 value of $2,207,443.17. Following the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 11,190 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,041,677.10. The trade was a 67.94 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, CEO Jeffrey W. Martin sold 49,737 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, January 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $82.94, for a total transaction of $4,125,186.78. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $165.88. This trade represents a 100.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate 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.