CHICAGO TRUST Co NA Decreases Stock Holdings in Sempra (NYSE:SRE)

CHICAGO TRUST Co NA lowered its holdings in Sempra (NYSE:SRE) by 4.1% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 10,480 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 452 shares during the quarter. CHICAGO TRUST Co NA’s holdings in Sempra were worth $919,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors have also recently modified their holdings of SRE. Brookstone Capital Management grew its position in Sempra by 132.7% during the 4th quarter. Brookstone Capital Management now owns 6,575 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $577,000 after purchasing an additional 3,750 shares during the last quarter. Czech National Bank lifted its position in Sempra by 6.5% in the 4th quarter. Czech National Bank now owns 137,334 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $12,047,000 after acquiring an additional 8,356 shares in the last quarter. West Oak Capital LLC lifted its position in Sempra by 696.2% in the 4th quarter. West Oak Capital LLC now owns 1,035 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $91,000 after acquiring an additional 905 shares in the last quarter. Graypoint LLC increased its holdings in shares of Sempra by 4.5% in the 4th quarter. Graypoint LLC now owns 4,487 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $394,000 after purchasing an additional 194 shares in the last quarter. Finally, LVM Capital Management Ltd. MI raised its stake in shares of Sempra by 2.4% in the fourth quarter. LVM Capital Management Ltd. MI now owns 6,677 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $586,000 after purchasing an additional 155 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 89.65% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

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

Sempra Trading Down 2.0 %

SRE stock traded down $1.60 during mid-day trading on Monday, reaching $77.13. 2,679,151 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 4,190,015. 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 business has a 50-day moving average price of $89.01 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $83.71. Sempra has a one year low of $66.40 and a one year high of $95.77. The stock has a market capitalization of $48.85 billion, a PE ratio of 16.99, a PEG ratio of 2.45 and a beta of 0.78.

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

Sempra Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, January 15th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, December 5th will be issued a $0.62 dividend. This represents a $2.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.22%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, December 5th. Sempra’s dividend payout ratio is currently 54.63%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts have weighed in on SRE shares. Jefferies Financial Group started coverage on Sempra in a research report on Thursday, October 24th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $98.00 target price for the company. Evercore ISI raised their price objective on shares of Sempra from $84.00 to $88.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, November 7th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price on shares of Sempra from $87.00 to $96.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, November 7th. Barclays boosted their price objective on shares of Sempra from $89.00 to $99.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, December 2nd. Finally, Morgan Stanley upgraded Sempra from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and lifted their target price for the company from $85.00 to $98.00 in a research report on Friday, December 13th. 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 currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $91.60.

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.