Legal & General Group Plc Has $568.26 Million Holdings in Sempra (NYSE:SRE)

Legal & General Group Plc decreased its position in Sempra (NYSE:SRE) by 7.9% during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 7,471,211 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 642,770 shares during the quarter. Legal & General Group Plc’s holdings in Sempra were worth $568,261,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company grew its holdings in Sempra by 6.3% during the second quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 855,638 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $65,080,000 after purchasing an additional 50,332 shares during the period. MBB Public Markets I LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Sempra in the second quarter valued at approximately $3,467,000. Daymark Wealth Partners LLC raised its position in shares of Sempra by 37.1% in the second quarter. Daymark Wealth Partners LLC now owns 6,022 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $458,000 after buying an additional 1,631 shares in the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC raised its position in shares of Sempra by 173.6% in the second quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 209,735 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $15,952,000 after buying an additional 133,085 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Caxton Associates LP acquired a new position in Sempra during the second quarter valued at approximately $201,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 89.65% of the company’s stock.

Sempra Trading Up 1.6 %

SRE stock opened at $83.25 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $52.46 billion, a PE ratio of 18.46, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.67 and a beta of 0.75. Sempra has a one year low of $63.75 and a one year high of $84.38. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $80.88 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $76.23. 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 quarterly 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 return on equity of 8.58% and a net margin of 22.31%. The business had revenue of $3.01 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.46 billion. During the same period last year, the business posted $0.94 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was down 9.7% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts predict that Sempra will post 4.79 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Sempra Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, October 15th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, September 26th will be given a dividend of $0.62 per share. This represents a $2.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.98%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, September 26th. Sempra’s payout ratio is currently 54.99%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

SRE has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Bank of America initiated coverage on shares of Sempra in a report on Thursday, September 12th. They set a “buy” rating and a $94.00 price target for the company. Evercore ISI upped their price target on shares of Sempra from $83.00 to $84.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 7th. BMO Capital Markets upped their price target on shares of Sempra from $90.00 to $93.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, September 12th. Morgan Stanley upped their price objective on shares of Sempra from $80.00 to $85.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday. Finally, Barclays upped their price objective on shares of Sempra from $81.00 to $87.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 13th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has given a hold rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $85.42.

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.