Kimelman & Baird LLC Makes New $114,000 Investment in Sempra (NYSE:SRE)

Kimelman & Baird LLC acquired a new position in Sempra (NYSE:SRE) in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor acquired 1,500 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $114,000.

Several other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Wellington Management Group LLP raised its holdings in Sempra by 12.1% in the 4th quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 27,123,899 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $2,026,969,000 after purchasing an additional 2,917,668 shares in the last quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC grew its position in shares of Sempra by 1.9% in the 1st quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC now owns 12,578,779 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $903,534,000 after buying an additional 233,819 shares during the period. Perpetual Ltd grew its position in shares of Sempra by 4.8% in the 1st quarter. Perpetual Ltd now owns 2,891,026 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $207,662,000 after buying an additional 133,119 shares during the period. Point72 Asset Management L.P. grew its position in shares of Sempra by 4.6% in the 4th quarter. Point72 Asset Management L.P. now owns 2,629,015 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $196,466,000 after buying an additional 116,297 shares during the period. Finally, DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale grew its position in shares of Sempra by 2.1% in the 2nd quarter. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale now owns 2,404,573 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $182,158,000 after buying an additional 48,592 shares during the period. 89.65% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Sempra Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE SRE opened at $83.63 on Tuesday. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $81.10 and its 200-day moving average price is $76.47. The company has a quick ratio of 0.41, a current ratio of 0.46 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.84. The company has a market cap of $52.70 billion, a PE ratio of 18.54, a PEG ratio of 2.64 and a beta of 0.75. Sempra has a 52-week low of $63.75 and a 52-week high of $84.38.

Sempra (NYSE:SRE) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, August 6th. The utilities provider reported $0.89 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.92 by ($0.03). Sempra had a return on equity of 8.58% and a net margin of 22.31%. The business had revenue of $3.01 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.46 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $0.94 EPS. Sempra’s revenue for the quarter was down 9.7% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts anticipate that Sempra will post 4.79 EPS for the current year.

Sempra Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, October 15th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, September 26th will be paid a $0.62 dividend. This represents a $2.48 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.97%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, September 26th. Sempra’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 54.99%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have recently weighed in on SRE. Bank of America began coverage on shares of Sempra in a research report on Thursday, September 12th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $94.00 target price on the stock. Evercore ISI upped their target price on shares of Sempra from $83.00 to $84.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 7th. Barclays upped their target price on shares of Sempra from $81.00 to $87.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 13th. BMO Capital Markets upped their target price on shares of Sempra from $90.00 to $93.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, September 12th. Finally, Morgan Stanley increased their price objective on shares of Sempra from $80.00 to $85.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, September 25th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has given a hold rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Sempra currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $85.42.

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.