Pensionfund Sabic Purchases 5,000 Shares of Sempra (NYSE:SRE)

Pensionfund Sabic grew its position in Sempra (NYSE:SRE) by 30.5% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 21,400 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 5,000 shares during the quarter. Pensionfund Sabic’s holdings in Sempra were worth $1,877,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. FMR LLC lifted its position in Sempra by 9.1% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 18,978,605 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,587,181,000 after buying an additional 1,582,653 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp raised its holdings in shares of Sempra by 4.9% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 32,940,620 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $2,774,974,000 after buying an additional 1,539,026 shares during the period. Clearbridge Investments LLC lifted its stake in shares of Sempra by 6.9% during the 2nd quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC now owns 13,452,912 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,023,228,000 after acquiring an additional 874,133 shares during the last quarter. National Bank of Canada FI boosted its holdings in Sempra by 201.2% during the 3rd quarter. National Bank of Canada FI now owns 620,394 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $51,882,000 after acquiring an additional 414,406 shares during the period. Finally, Unigestion Holding SA bought a new position in Sempra in the 3rd quarter valued at $33,023,000. 89.65% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Morgan Stanley upgraded Sempra from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and lifted their target price for the stock from $85.00 to $98.00 in a research report on Friday, December 13th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on shares of Sempra from $87.00 to $96.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 7th. Jefferies Financial Group assumed coverage on shares of Sempra in a research report on Thursday, October 24th. They set a “buy” rating and a $98.00 target price on the stock. Evercore ISI boosted their price target on Sempra from $84.00 to $88.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, November 7th. Finally, Bank of America started coverage on Sempra in a report on Thursday, September 12th. They set a “buy” rating and a $94.00 price objective on the stock. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating and ten have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $91.60.

Sempra Stock Down 1.4 %

SRE traded down $1.24 on Monday, hitting $86.43. The company had a trading volume of 202,779 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,754,509. The stock has a market capitalization of $54.74 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.04, a P/E/G ratio of 2.45 and a beta of 0.78. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.89, a quick ratio of 0.47 and a current ratio of 0.52. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $89.10 and a 200-day moving average price of $83.47. Sempra has a 12-month low of $66.40 and a 12-month high of $95.77.

Sempra (NYSE:SRE) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, November 6th. The utilities provider reported $0.89 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.05 by ($0.16). Sempra had a return on equity of 8.06% and a net margin of 22.63%. The firm had revenue of $2.78 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.54 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $1.08 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 16.7% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts predict that Sempra will post 4.76 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Sempra Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, January 15th. Investors of record on Thursday, December 5th will be paid a dividend of $0.62 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, December 5th. This represents a $2.48 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.87%. Sempra’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 54.63%.

Insider Activity at Sempra

In other Sempra news, VP Trevor I. Mihalik sold 23,713 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, November 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $93.09, for a total value of $2,207,443.17. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now owns 11,190 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,041,677.10. This trade represents a 67.94 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. 0.24% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Sempra Company 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.