Sempra (NYSE:SRE) Shares Sold by Toronto Dominion Bank

Toronto Dominion Bank lowered its position in Sempra (NYSE:SRE) by 1.8% during the second quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 197,638 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 3,674 shares during the quarter. Toronto Dominion Bank’s holdings in Sempra were worth $15,032,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Wellington Management Group LLP lifted its stake in shares of Sempra by 12.1% during 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 purchasing an additional 2,917,668 shares in the last quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC lifted 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 worth $903,534,000 after purchasing an additional 233,819 shares in the last quarter. Perpetual Ltd lifted its stake in shares of Sempra by 4.8% during the first quarter. Perpetual Ltd now owns 2,891,026 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $207,662,000 after purchasing an additional 133,119 shares in the last quarter. Point72 Asset Management L.P. lifted its stake in shares of Sempra by 4.6% during the fourth quarter. Point72 Asset Management L.P. now owns 2,629,015 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $196,466,000 after purchasing an additional 116,297 shares in the last quarter. Finally, DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale lifted its stake in shares of Sempra by 2.1% during the second quarter. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale now owns 2,404,573 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $182,158,000 after purchasing an additional 48,592 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 89.65% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts have commented on the company. Barclays boosted their price objective on Sempra from $81.00 to $87.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 13th. Morgan Stanley boosted their price objective on Sempra from $80.00 to $85.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday. BMO Capital Markets boosted their price objective on Sempra from $90.00 to $93.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, September 12th. Evercore ISI lifted their target price on Sempra from $83.00 to $84.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 7th. Finally, Bank of America assumed coverage on Sempra in a research report on Thursday, September 12th. They set a “buy” rating and a $94.00 target price on the stock. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has given a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Sempra presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $85.42.

Sempra Stock Up 1.6 %

Shares of Sempra stock opened at $83.25 on Friday. 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 firm has a market cap of $52.46 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.46, a P/E/G ratio of 2.67 and a beta of 0.75. Sempra has a fifty-two week low of $63.75 and a fifty-two week high of $84.38. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $80.88 and a 200 day moving average price of $76.23.

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

Sempra Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, October 15th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, September 26th will be issued a dividend of $0.62 per share. This represents a $2.48 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.98%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, September 26th. Sempra’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 54.99%.

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.