Bailard Inc. Sells 4,575 Shares of Sempra (NYSE:SRE)

Bailard Inc. lessened its holdings in shares of Sempra (NYSE:SRE) by 34.8% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 8,570 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 4,575 shares during the period. Bailard Inc.’s holdings in Sempra were worth $640,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in SRE. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in Sempra by 101.8% in the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 62,117,948 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $4,225,884,000 after acquiring an additional 31,334,782 shares during the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its holdings in Sempra by 101.4% in the third quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 24,206,231 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,646,750,000 after acquiring an additional 12,184,568 shares during the last quarter. Newport Trust Company LLC boosted its holdings in Sempra by 104.0% in the third quarter. Newport Trust Company LLC now owns 14,416,527 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $980,756,000 after acquiring an additional 7,348,746 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC boosted its holdings in Sempra by 147.0% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 14,360,225 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $976,926,000 after acquiring an additional 8,546,205 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Clearbridge Investments LLC boosted its holdings in Sempra by 109.0% in the third quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC now owns 12,154,272 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $826,855,000 after acquiring an additional 6,338,545 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 89.65% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Sempra

In other news, VP Trevor I. Mihalik sold 57,571 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $70.59, for a total transaction of $4,063,936.89. Following the sale, the vice president now owns 10,922 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $770,983.98. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. In related news, VP Trevor I. Mihalik sold 57,571 shares of Sempra stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $70.59, for a total value of $4,063,936.89. Following the sale, the vice president now owns 10,922 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $770,983.98. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, insider Diana L. Day sold 3,937 shares of Sempra stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $71.21, for a total value of $280,353.77. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 18,145 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,292,105.45. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 122,432 shares of company stock valued at $8,668,035 over the last 90 days. 0.24% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms recently issued reports on SRE. Mizuho decreased their price target on Sempra from $83.00 to $79.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, January 25th. Morgan Stanley raised their price target on Sempra from $74.00 to $75.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, March 21st. Barclays raised their price target on Sempra from $77.00 to $79.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, March 14th. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $82.00 price target on shares of Sempra in a report on Wednesday, March 6th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets raised Sempra from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and increased their target price for the company from $76.00 to $84.00 in a research note on Thursday, January 11th. One investment 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’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $82.14.

Sempra Trading Down 0.9 %

NYSE SRE opened at $71.32 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $45.08 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.89, a P/E/G ratio of 2.46 and a beta of 0.71. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.85, a current ratio of 0.54 and a quick ratio of 0.49. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $70.55 and its 200-day moving average is $71.70. Sempra has a one year low of $63.75 and a one year high of $79.30.

Sempra (NYSE:SRE) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 27th. The utilities provider reported $1.13 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.11 by $0.02. The company had revenue of $3.49 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.01 billion. Sempra had a return on equity of 9.45% and a net margin of 18.26%. Sempra’s revenue was up 1.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $1.17 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Sempra will post 4.82 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Sempra Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, April 15th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, March 21st were given a dividend of $0.62 per share. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, March 20th. This represents a $2.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.48%. This is a positive change from Sempra’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.60. Sempra’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 51.77%.

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.