Sempra (NYSE:SRE) Shares Sold by Clifford Swan Investment Counsel LLC

Clifford Swan Investment Counsel LLC decreased its position in shares of Sempra (NYSE:SRE) by 3.7% during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 15,604 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 600 shares during the quarter. Clifford Swan Investment Counsel LLC’s holdings in Sempra were worth $1,187,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Family Firm Inc. purchased a new position in Sempra during the second quarter worth about $30,000. Ashton Thomas Private Wealth LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Sempra during the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $33,000. Financial Connections Group Inc. acquired a new position in Sempra in the second quarter valued at approximately $34,000. SouthState Corp grew its position in Sempra by 900.0% in the second quarter. SouthState Corp now owns 470 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $36,000 after acquiring an additional 423 shares during the period. Finally, Opal Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in Sempra during the second quarter worth $39,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 89.65% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Sempra news, CAO Peter R. Wall sold 6,100 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, June 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $75.07, for a total transaction of $457,927.00. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 14,751 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,107,357.57. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. 0.24% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

SRE has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Mizuho upped their price target on Sempra from $79.00 to $86.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, May 17th. BMO Capital Markets decreased their target price on shares of Sempra from $86.00 to $84.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, July 10th. LADENBURG THALM/SH SH dropped their price target on shares of Sempra from $81.50 to $79.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, May 29th. Morgan Stanley upped their price objective on shares of Sempra from $77.00 to $80.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, August 23rd. Finally, Evercore ISI increased their price objective 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. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has given a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Sempra has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $83.36.

Sempra Stock Performance

Shares of SRE opened at $82.94 on Tuesday. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $79.16 and a 200-day simple moving average of $75.20. The stock has a market capitalization of $52.51 billion, a PE ratio of 18.37, a PEG ratio of 2.86 and a beta of 0.75. Sempra has a 1 year low of $63.75 and a 1 year high of $84.28. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.84, a quick ratio of 0.41 and a current ratio of 0.46.

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

Sempra Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, October 15th. Investors of record on Thursday, September 26th will be given a $0.62 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, September 26th. This represents a $2.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.99%. Sempra’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 54.93%.

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.