Opal Wealth Advisors LLC Invests $38,000 in Sempra (NYSE:SRE)

Opal Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Sempra (NYSE:SRE) during the first quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor bought 530 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $38,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of SRE. Prudent Man Investment Management Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Sempra during the fourth quarter worth about $26,000. Synergy Investment Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Sempra during the fourth quarter worth about $29,000. TCTC Holdings LLC increased its position in shares of Sempra by 265.2% during the fourth 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 last quarter. Meeder Asset Management Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Sempra during the fourth quarter worth about $29,000. Finally, Mattson Financial Services LLC acquired a new stake in Sempra during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $30,000. 89.65% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts have recently commented on the company. Guggenheim lowered their target price on Sempra from $95.00 to $87.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, February 26th. BMO Capital Markets increased their price objective on Sempra from $78.00 to $81.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, May 12th. UBS Group lowered Sempra from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and reduced their target price for the company from $95.00 to $78.00 in a report on Wednesday, February 26th. Jefferies Financial Group reduced their target price on Sempra from $77.00 to $75.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, April 15th. Finally, Citigroup reduced their target price on Sempra from $93.00 to $70.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, April 9th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Sempra has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $80.75.

Sempra Price Performance

SRE opened at $73.77 on Tuesday. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $74.72 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $78.10. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.89, a quick ratio of 0.47 and a current ratio of 0.52. Sempra has a 52 week low of $61.90 and a 52 week high of $95.77. The firm has a market capitalization of $48.09 billion, a PE ratio of 16.25, a P/E/G ratio of 2.19 and a beta of 0.64.

Sempra (NYSE:SRE) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 8th. The utilities provider reported $1.44 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.32 by $0.12. The firm had revenue of $3.80 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.90 billion. Sempra had a net margin of 22.63% and a return on equity of 8.06%. The company’s revenue was up 4.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $1.34 EPS. As a group, analysts anticipate that Sempra will post 4.76 earnings per share for the current year.

Sempra Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, July 15th. Investors of record on Thursday, June 26th will be paid a $0.645 dividend. This represents a $2.58 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.50%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, June 26th. Sempra’s payout ratio is 56.70%.

Insider Activity at Sempra

In other news, insider Diana L. Day sold 8,015 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, May 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $74.26, for a total value of $595,193.90. Following the sale, the insider now owns 16,969 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,260,117.94. The trade was a 32.08% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, EVP Justin Christopher Bird sold 4,817 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, April 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $71.23, for a total transaction of $343,114.91. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 19,778 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,408,786.94. This represents a 19.59% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.27% of the stock is owned by insiders.

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.