Congress Wealth Management LLC DE Purchases New Shares in Sempra (NYSE:SRE)

Congress Wealth Management LLC DE acquired a new position in shares of Sempra (NYSE:SRE) during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm acquired 4,978 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $437,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in SRE. Crews Bank & Trust acquired a new stake in shares of Sempra during the fourth quarter worth about $26,000. Synergy Investment Management LLC acquired a new stake in Sempra during the 4th quarter worth approximately $29,000. TCTC Holdings LLC lifted its position in Sempra by 265.2% during the 4th quarter. TCTC Holdings LLC now owns 336 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $29,000 after acquiring an additional 244 shares during the period. Human Investing LLC acquired a new position in shares of Sempra in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $31,000. Finally, ST Germain D J Co. Inc. raised its stake in shares of Sempra by 225.6% during the fourth quarter. ST Germain D J Co. Inc. now owns 433 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $38,000 after purchasing an additional 300 shares during the last quarter. 89.65% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

SRE has been the subject of several recent research reports. Guggenheim decreased their price target on Sempra from $95.00 to $87.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, February 26th. Morgan Stanley boosted their price target on shares of Sempra from $85.00 to $86.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 20th. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price objective on Sempra from $88.00 to $85.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday. The Goldman Sachs Group cut Sempra from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and dropped their target price for the stock from $99.00 to $76.00 in a research report on Wednesday, February 26th. Finally, Barclays lowered Sempra from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and dropped their price objective for the stock from $95.00 to $72.00 in a report on Thursday, February 27th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Sempra presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $81.33.

Sempra Trading Down 0.6 %

Shares of SRE stock opened at $69.65 on Friday. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $77.23 and a 200 day moving average price of $83.13. Sempra has a twelve month low of $64.89 and a twelve month high of $95.77. The company has a market capitalization of $45.37 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.34, a PEG ratio of 2.19 and a beta of 0.76. The company has a current ratio of 0.52, a quick ratio of 0.47 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.89.

Sempra (NYSE:SRE) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 25th. The utilities provider reported $1.50 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.47 by $0.03. Sempra had a net margin of 22.63% and a return on equity of 8.06%. The company had revenue of $3.76 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.73 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $1.13 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 7.6% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts forecast that Sempra will post 4.76 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Sempra Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 15th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, March 20th will be paid a dividend of $0.645 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, March 20th. This represents a $2.58 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.70%. This is an increase from Sempra’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.62. Sempra’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 58.37%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Sempra

In other news, Director James C. Yardley acquired 5,019 shares of Sempra stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 12th. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $69.74 per share, with a total value of $350,025.06. Following the purchase, the director now directly owns 5,019 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $350,025.06. This trade represents a ∞ increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, CEO Jeffrey W. Martin sold 49,737 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, January 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $82.94, for a total value of $4,125,186.78. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 2 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $165.88. The trade was a 100.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have purchased a total of 9,319 shares of company stock worth $651,676 in the last quarter. 0.24% of the stock is owned by insiders.

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.