Colonial Trust Advisors Has $1.95 Million Stake in Sempra (NYSE:SRE)

Colonial Trust Advisors lowered its holdings in Sempra (NYSE:SRE) by 2.6% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 22,172 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 598 shares during the quarter. Colonial Trust Advisors’ holdings in Sempra were worth $1,945,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Crews Bank & Trust bought a new position in Sempra in the 4th quarter valued at $26,000. Prudent Man Investment Management Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Sempra in the fourth quarter valued at about $26,000. Meeder Asset Management Inc. bought a new stake in Sempra during the fourth quarter worth about $29,000. Synergy Investment Management LLC bought a new stake in Sempra during the fourth quarter worth about $29,000. Finally, TCTC Holdings LLC raised its stake in Sempra by 265.2% in the fourth quarter. TCTC Holdings LLC now owns 336 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $29,000 after buying an additional 244 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 89.65% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Sempra

In other news, Director Pablo Ferrero acquired 2,600 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, March 17th. The shares were purchased at an average price of $70.96 per share, for a total transaction of $184,496.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 15,649 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,110,453.04. This represents a 19.92 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, SVP Alexander Lisa Larroque sold 2,755 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $81.93, for a total value of $225,717.15. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 13,905 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,139,236.65. This trade represents a 16.54 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have acquired 9,319 shares of company stock worth $651,676 and have sold 57,309 shares worth $4,694,019. 0.24% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts have weighed in on SRE shares. Jefferies Financial Group reaffirmed a “hold” rating and issued a $77.00 target price (down previously from $96.00) on shares of Sempra in a report on Monday, March 3rd. Wells Fargo & Company cut their price objective on Sempra from $88.00 to $85.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, March 26th. UBS Group downgraded Sempra from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and decreased their target price for the company from $95.00 to $78.00 in a report on Wednesday, February 26th. Barclays cut Sempra from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and dropped their price objective for the company from $95.00 to $72.00 in a research report on Thursday, February 27th. Finally, Citigroup cut their target price on Sempra from $93.00 to $70.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Sempra currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $80.46.

Sempra Stock Up 6.6 %

Shares of NYSE:SRE opened at $68.01 on Thursday. The company has a market cap of $44.34 billion, a PE ratio of 14.98, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.19 and a beta of 0.65. 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 firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $74.17 and a 200 day simple moving average of $82.09. Sempra has a 52 week low of $61.90 and a 52 week high of $95.77.

Sempra (NYSE:SRE) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, February 25th. The utilities provider reported $1.50 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.47 by $0.03. Sempra had a net margin of 22.63% and a return on equity of 8.06%. The business had revenue of $3.76 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.73 billion. During the same period last year, the business posted $1.13 EPS. Sempra’s revenue was up 7.6% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts expect that Sempra will post 4.76 earnings per share for the current year.

Sempra Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 15th. Investors of record on Thursday, March 20th will be issued a dividend of $0.645 per share. This represents a $2.58 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.79%. This is an increase from Sempra’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.62. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, March 20th. Sempra’s payout ratio is presently 58.37%.

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.