Hsbc Holdings PLC Purchases 26,862 Shares of Sempra (NYSE:SRE)

Hsbc Holdings PLC boosted its position in Sempra (NYSE:SRE) by 1.6% in the second quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 1,659,618 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 26,862 shares during the quarter. Hsbc Holdings PLC’s holdings in Sempra were worth $126,246,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Crestline Management LP increased its position in Sempra by 14.0% in the 4th quarter. Crestline Management LP now owns 119,174 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $8,906,000 after buying an additional 14,674 shares in the last quarter. GSA Capital Partners LLP bought a new stake in Sempra during the 1st quarter worth approximately $815,000. D.A. Davidson & CO. increased its holdings in Sempra by 14.4% during the 4th quarter. D.A. Davidson & CO. now owns 41,202 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $3,079,000 after purchasing an additional 5,197 shares in the last quarter. Magnetar Financial LLC bought a new stake in Sempra during the 1st quarter worth approximately $2,293,000. Finally, Forsta AP Fonden increased its holdings in Sempra by 13.7% during the 1st quarter. Forsta AP Fonden now owns 117,200 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $8,418,000 after purchasing an additional 14,100 shares in the last quarter. 89.65% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts have commented on the company. Morgan Stanley boosted their price objective on Sempra from $77.00 to $80.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, August 23rd. Barclays boosted their price objective on Sempra from $81.00 to $87.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 13th. LADENBURG THALM/SH SH reduced their target price on Sempra from $81.50 to $79.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, May 29th. Bank of America began coverage on Sempra in a report on Thursday, September 12th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $94.00 target price for the company. Finally, Evercore ISI upped their target price on Sempra from $83.00 to $84.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, August 7th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has issued a hold rating and ten have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Sempra has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $85.00.

Sempra Price Performance

Sempra stock opened at $82.94 on Thursday. Sempra has a 12 month low of $63.75 and a 12 month high of $84.29. The company has a current ratio of 0.46, a quick ratio of 0.41 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.84. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $80.16 and its 200 day simple moving average is $75.75. The company has a market cap of $52.51 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.37, a PEG ratio of 2.84 and a beta of 0.75.

Sempra (NYSE:SRE) last posted its quarterly earnings data 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 firm had revenue of $3.01 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.46 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.94 EPS. Sempra’s revenue for the quarter was down 9.7% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts forecast that Sempra will post 4.79 EPS for the current year.

Sempra Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, October 15th. Investors of record on Thursday, September 26th will be paid a $0.62 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, September 26th. This represents a $2.48 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.99%. Sempra’s payout ratio is 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.