Sempra (NYSE:SRE) Shares Acquired by Spirit of America Management Corp NY

Spirit of America Management Corp NY grew its holdings in Sempra (NYSE:SRE) by 15.8% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 13,950 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after buying an additional 1,900 shares during the quarter. Spirit of America Management Corp NY’s holdings in Sempra were worth $1,224,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of SRE. FMR LLC raised its position in shares of 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 during the last quarter. State Street Corp increased 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 purchasing an additional 1,539,026 shares during the last quarter. National Bank of Canada FI increased its position in Sempra by 201.2% during the third quarter. National Bank of Canada FI now owns 620,394 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $51,882,000 after purchasing an additional 414,406 shares during the last quarter. Unigestion Holding SA acquired a new stake in Sempra during the third quarter worth about $33,023,000. Finally, Bank of Montreal Can increased its position in Sempra by 38.3% during the third quarter. Bank of Montreal Can now owns 1,420,045 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $118,219,000 after purchasing an additional 393,277 shares during the last quarter. 89.65% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts recently issued reports on SRE shares. Barclays cut their price objective on shares of Sempra from $99.00 to $95.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, January 27th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective 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. Jefferies Financial Group started coverage on shares of Sempra in a research report on Thursday, October 24th. They set a “buy” rating and a $98.00 price objective for the company. Morgan Stanley raised shares of Sempra from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and increased their target price for the stock from $85.00 to $98.00 in a research note on Friday, December 13th. Finally, Evercore ISI increased their target price on shares of Sempra from $84.00 to $88.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 7th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Sempra currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $91.20.

Insider Activity

In related news, CEO Jeffrey W. Martin sold 49,737 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, January 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $82.94, for a total value of $4,125,186.78. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 2 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $165.88. This trade represents a 100.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, VP Trevor I. Mihalik sold 23,713 shares of the firm’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 sale, the vice president now directly owns 11,190 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,041,677.10. This trade represents a 67.94 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 0.27% of the company’s stock.

Sempra Trading Down 1.5 %

NYSE SRE opened at $81.39 on Wednesday. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $86.36 and a 200-day simple moving average of $84.45. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.89, a quick ratio of 0.47 and a current ratio of 0.52. Sempra has a one year low of $66.40 and a one year high of $95.77. The firm has a market cap of $51.55 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.93, a PEG ratio of 2.11 and a beta of 0.78.

Sempra (NYSE:SRE) last posted its quarterly earnings data 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 net margin of 22.63% and a return on equity of 8.06%. The business had revenue of $2.78 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.54 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $1.08 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 16.7% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts anticipate that Sempra will post 4.77 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Sempra Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, January 15th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, December 5th were paid a $0.62 dividend. This represents a $2.48 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.05%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, December 5th. Sempra’s payout ratio is 54.63%.

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.