Sempra (NYSE:SRE) Shares Sold by Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V.

Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. lowered its stake in Sempra (NYSE:SRE) by 44.3% during the third quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 37,191 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 29,612 shares during the quarter. Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V.’s holdings in Sempra were worth $3,110,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Van ECK Associates Corp raised its holdings in Sempra by 6.6% during the third quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 181,324 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $15,586,000 after purchasing an additional 11,270 shares during the last quarter. Confluence Wealth Services Inc. acquired a new stake in Sempra during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $211,000. Baxter Bros Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Sempra during the third quarter worth $301,000. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC grew its stake in Sempra by 4.0% during the 3rd quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC now owns 276,948 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $23,161,000 after buying an additional 10,720 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Prossimo Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of Sempra by 14.8% during the third quarter. Prossimo Advisors LLC now owns 6,240 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $522,000 after purchasing an additional 805 shares during the period. 89.65% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

SRE has been the topic of a number of research reports. Bank of America started coverage on Sempra in a research note on Thursday, September 12th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $94.00 price objective on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on Sempra from $87.00 to $96.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday. Morgan Stanley increased their target price on shares of Sempra from $80.00 to $85.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, September 25th. Evercore ISI boosted their price objective on Sempra from $84.00 to $88.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday. Finally, BMO Capital Markets boosted their price target on Sempra from $93.00 to $96.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, October 21st. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has assigned a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $89.00.

Sempra Trading Up 1.7 %

NYSE:SRE opened at $91.25 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $57.77 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.10, a P/E/G ratio of 2.82 and a beta of 0.75. Sempra has a 1 year low of $66.40 and a 1 year high of $91.88. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.86, a current ratio of 0.52 and a quick ratio of 0.41. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $83.60 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $79.21.

Sempra (NYSE:SRE) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, November 6th. The utilities provider reported $0.89 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.06 by ($0.17). Sempra had a net margin of 22.63% and a return on equity of 8.01%. The business had revenue of $2.78 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.54 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $1.08 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 16.7% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts expect that Sempra will post 4.77 EPS for the current year.

Sempra Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, January 15th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, December 5th will be given a dividend of $0.62 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, December 5th. This represents a $2.48 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.72%. Sempra’s payout ratio is 54.63%.

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.