Howard Capital Management Inc. Acquires 199 Shares of Sempra (NYSE:SRE)

Howard Capital Management Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Sempra (NYSE:SRE) by 5.1% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 4,130 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 199 shares during the period. Howard Capital Management Inc.’s holdings in Sempra were worth $362,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. FMR LLC boosted its holdings 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 acquiring an additional 1,582,653 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp boosted its stake in Sempra by 4.9% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 32,940,620 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $2,774,974,000 after purchasing an additional 1,539,026 shares in the last quarter. National Bank of Canada FI grew its position 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 purchasing an additional 414,406 shares during the last quarter. Unigestion Holding SA bought a new stake in Sempra during the 3rd quarter valued at about $33,023,000. Finally, Bank of Montreal Can raised its holdings in Sempra by 38.3% in the third quarter. Bank of Montreal Can now owns 1,420,045 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $118,219,000 after buying an additional 393,277 shares during the last quarter. 89.65% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms have recently commented on SRE. Morgan Stanley upgraded shares of Sempra from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and increased their price target for the company from $85.00 to $98.00 in a report on Friday, December 13th. Barclays cut their target price on Sempra from $99.00 to $95.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, January 27th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price target on Sempra from $87.00 to $96.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 7th. Finally, Evercore ISI increased their price objective on Sempra from $84.00 to $88.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 7th. Ten equities research analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating, According to MarketBeat, Sempra presently has an average rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $91.20.

Sempra Stock Performance

Shares of SRE opened at $87.20 on Tuesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $55.23 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.21, a PEG ratio of 2.19 and a beta of 0.78. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.89, a current ratio of 0.52 and a quick ratio of 0.47. Sempra has a one year low of $66.40 and a one year high of $95.77. The business has a fifty day moving average of $84.29 and a 200 day moving average of $84.98.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CEO Jeffrey W. Martin sold 49,737 shares of Sempra stock in a transaction on Thursday, January 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $82.94, for a total transaction of $4,125,186.78. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2 shares in the company, valued at approximately $165.88. The trade was a 100.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, SVP Alexander Lisa Larroque sold 2,755 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $81.93, for a total value of $225,717.15. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 13,905 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,139,236.65. The trade was a 16.54 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 0.24% of the company’s stock.

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.