Heartland Bank & Trust Co Reduces Stock Position in Sempra (NYSE:SRE)

Heartland Bank & Trust Co trimmed its position in Sempra (NYSE:SRE) by 3.3% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 5,185 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 177 shares during the period. Heartland Bank & Trust Co’s holdings in Sempra were worth $455,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of SRE. Eastern Bank acquired a new position in shares of Sempra in the third quarter valued at approximately $28,000. Hollencrest Capital Management raised its holdings in Sempra by 250.0% in the 3rd quarter. Hollencrest Capital Management now owns 378 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $32,000 after acquiring an additional 270 shares during the last quarter. ST Germain D J Co. Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Sempra by 225.6% during the 4th quarter. ST Germain D J Co. Inc. now owns 433 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $38,000 after purchasing an additional 300 shares during the period. LRI Investments LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Sempra by 180.4% during the third quarter. LRI Investments LLC now owns 443 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $40,000 after purchasing an additional 285 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Mather Group LLC. grew its position in shares of Sempra by 35.5% in the third quarter. Mather Group LLC. now owns 740 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $62,000 after purchasing an additional 194 shares during the period. 89.65% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity at Sempra

In other news, VP Trevor I. Mihalik sold 23,713 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, November 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $93.09, for a total value 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. This represents a 67.94 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. 0.24% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms recently weighed in on SRE. BMO Capital Markets increased their target price on Sempra from $93.00 to $96.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, October 21st. Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on shares of Sempra from $87.00 to $96.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 7th. Morgan Stanley raised shares of Sempra from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and upped their price target for the stock from $85.00 to $98.00 in a research report on Friday, December 13th. Jefferies Financial Group assumed coverage on shares of Sempra in a report on Thursday, October 24th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $98.00 price target on the stock. Finally, Barclays cut their target price on Sempra from $99.00 to $95.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Sempra currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $91.20.

Sempra Trading Down 0.0 %

SRE opened at $82.78 on Monday. The firm has a market capitalization of $52.43 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.23, a P/E/G ratio of 2.10 and a beta of 0.78. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $87.72 and its 200-day moving average is $84.22. The company has a quick ratio of 0.47, a current ratio of 0.52 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.89. Sempra has a 52-week low of $66.40 and a 52-week high of $95.77.

Sempra (NYSE:SRE) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, November 6th. The utilities provider reported $0.89 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.05 by ($0.16). Sempra had a return on equity of 8.06% and a net margin of 22.63%. The business had revenue of $2.78 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.54 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $1.08 EPS. The company’s revenue was down 16.7% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts expect that Sempra will post 4.77 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Sempra Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, January 15th. Investors of record on Thursday, December 5th were paid a $0.62 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, December 5th. This represents a $2.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.00%. Sempra’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 54.63%.

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.