Three separate signals on Sempra have converged this week. The put-call ratio spiked to its highest level in months. Short positions keep growing. And cost to borrow, while still tiny, quadrupled in a week.
None of these individually would move the needle. Together, they sketch a picture of quiet but broadening caution on a stock the Street still formally likes.
The put-call ratio hit 0.42 on June 12. That is 2.4 standard deviations above the 20-day mean of 0.24. It is also the highest reading since the 52-week range shows a peak of 1.07 — so there is headroom — but the jump from the prior week's range of 0.19–0.20 is sharp.
This is a utility stock. Sempra does not normally attract heavy options hedging. A sudden spike in put demand, even to a PCR of 0.42, is notable precisely because the baseline is so low.
SI now stands at 1.61% of free float. That is up from roughly 1.37% a month ago. The rebuild has been steady since early May, when shares short sat near 8.7 million. They now stand at 10.5 million.
The borrow market confirms there is no stress behind this. Availability is effectively uncapped — around 483 million shares remain available to borrow. Cost to borrow is 0.42%. The three-fold jump in CTB over the past week sounds dramatic; in absolute terms it is still one of the cheapest borrows in the market.
The ORTEX short score has edged to 31.9, up from 30.7 two weeks ago. It is moving in one direction but nowhere near alarming territory.
The recent analyst backdrop offers a possible explanation for the creeping caution. Since May, Truist Securities trimmed its target from $108 to $104. BMO Capital cut from $105 to $103. Both maintained their positive ratings. Morgan Stanley similarly shaved its target while holding Overweight.
The consensus target sits at $103.50. Sempra closed at $92.29 on June 12 — about 12% below the average target. That gap is meaningful, but the direction of travel on targets has been quietly downward for several weeks.
Next earnings are due August 4. The two most recent prints each produced negative one-day moves of roughly 1–2%.
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