Natixis Advisors LLC Grows Stock Holdings in Sempra (NYSE:SRE)

Natixis Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of Sempra (NYSE:SRE) by 18.9% during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 438,286 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 69,747 shares during the quarter. Natixis Advisors LLC owned 0.07% of Sempra worth $33,336,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of SRE. Wellington Management Group LLP increased its stake in shares of Sempra by 12.1% in the fourth quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 27,123,899 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $2,026,969,000 after buying an additional 2,917,668 shares during the period. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of Sempra in the fourth quarter valued at about $958,253,000. Clearbridge Investments LLC raised its stake in shares of Sempra by 1.9% during the first quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC now owns 12,578,779 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $903,534,000 after acquiring an additional 233,819 shares during the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. raised its stake in shares of Sempra by 7.7% during the fourth quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 7,077,642 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $528,912,000 after acquiring an additional 507,622 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Sempra by 2.6% during the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 3,405,214 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $254,472,000 after purchasing an additional 86,577 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 89.65% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts have commented on SRE shares. BMO Capital Markets lowered their price target on Sempra from $86.00 to $84.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, July 10th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price on Sempra from $79.00 to $84.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, May 8th. Morgan Stanley lifted their price target on shares of Sempra from $77.00 to $80.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, August 23rd. Barclays boosted their price objective on shares of Sempra from $81.00 to $87.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 13th. Finally, Mizuho raised their target price on shares of Sempra from $79.00 to $86.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, May 17th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has issued a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $83.36.

Sempra Stock Performance

Shares of SRE opened at $82.18 on Tuesday. 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 stock has a market cap of $51.79 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.22, a P/E/G ratio of 2.86 and a beta of 0.74. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $78.45 and its 200-day moving average price is $74.78. Sempra has a 52 week low of $63.75 and a 52 week high of $83.68.

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

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CAO Peter R. Wall sold 6,100 shares of Sempra stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, June 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $75.07, for a total value of $457,927.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 14,751 shares in the company, valued at $1,107,357.57. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. 0.24% 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.