Czech National Bank Buys 8,384 Shares of Sempra (NYSE:SRE)

Czech National Bank grew its stake in Sempra (NYSE:SRE) by 7.0% during the third quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 128,978 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 8,384 shares during the period. Czech National Bank’s holdings in Sempra were worth $10,786,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in SRE. GSA Capital Partners LLP purchased a new stake in shares of Sempra in the 1st quarter worth approximately $815,000. Magnetar Financial LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Sempra in the 1st quarter worth approximately $2,293,000. Forsta AP Fonden lifted its position in shares of Sempra by 13.7% in 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 during the period. Perpetual Ltd lifted its position in shares of Sempra by 4.8% in the 1st 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 during the period. Finally, SG Americas Securities LLC lifted its position in shares of Sempra by 249.9% in the 1st quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 155,854 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $11,195,000 after purchasing an additional 111,314 shares during the period. 89.65% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

SRE has been the subject of several research reports. Bank of America assumed coverage on shares of Sempra in a research report on Thursday, September 12th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $94.00 price target for the company. Barclays increased their target price on shares of Sempra from $87.00 to $89.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday. Evercore ISI increased their target price 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 increased their target price 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. Finally, Morgan Stanley increased their target price on shares of Sempra from $80.00 to $85.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, September 25th. One equities research 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. Based on data from MarketBeat, Sempra presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $85.27.

Sempra Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:SRE traded up $0.07 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $82.60. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 1,388,396 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,862,941. The firm has a market capitalization of $52.05 billion, a PE ratio of 18.31, a P/E/G ratio of 2.64 and a beta of 0.75. Sempra has a twelve month low of $64.29 and a twelve month high of $84.47. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $81.48 and a 200 day moving average of $76.74. The company has a quick ratio of 0.41, a current ratio of 0.46 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.84.

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

Sempra Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, October 15th. Stockholders 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 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.00%. Sempra’s payout ratio is currently 54.99%.

Sempra Profile

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.