Rockland Trust Co. Cuts Stock Holdings in Sempra (NYSE:SRE)

Rockland Trust Co. lessened its holdings in Sempra (NYSE:SRE) by 11.0% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 5,712 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 703 shares during the quarter. Rockland Trust Co.’s holdings in Sempra were worth $501,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in SRE. Wellington Management Group LLP increased its holdings in shares of Sempra by 0.4% in the 3rd quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 34,324,893 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $2,870,591,000 after purchasing an additional 128,847 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp grew its position in Sempra by 4.9% during 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. FMR LLC increased 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 valued at $1,587,181,000 after buying an additional 1,582,653 shares in the last quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC increased its holdings in Sempra by 6.9% in the second quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC now owns 13,452,912 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,023,228,000 after buying an additional 874,133 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Sempra by 1.2% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 12,761,872 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,063,007,000 after acquiring an additional 145,873 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 89.65% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms recently weighed in on SRE. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on Sempra from $87.00 to $96.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 7th. Morgan Stanley upgraded Sempra from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and raised their price target for the company from $85.00 to $98.00 in a research report on Friday, December 13th. Barclays boosted their price objective on shares of Sempra from $89.00 to $99.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, December 2nd. BMO Capital Markets raised their target price on shares of Sempra from $93.00 to $96.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, October 21st. Finally, Evercore ISI upped their price target on shares of Sempra from $84.00 to $88.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, November 7th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $91.60.

Sempra Stock Performance

NYSE:SRE opened at $82.55 on Thursday. Sempra has a 1-year low of $66.40 and a 1-year high of $95.77. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $88.85 and a 200-day simple moving average of $83.73. The firm has a market cap of $52.29 billion, a PE ratio of 18.18, 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 current ratio of 0.52 and a quick ratio of 0.47.

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

Sempra Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, January 15th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, December 5th were paid a dividend of $0.62 per share. This represents a $2.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.00%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, December 5th. Sempra’s dividend payout ratio is currently 54.63%.

Insider Transactions at Sempra

In related news, VP Trevor I. Mihalik sold 23,713 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, November 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $93.09, for a total transaction of $2,207,443.17. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now owns 11,190 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,041,677.10. This represents a 67.94 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Insiders own 0.24% of the company’s stock.

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.