Fmr LLC Has $1.59 Billion Position in Sempra (NYSE:SRE)

Fmr LLC lifted its stake in shares of Sempra (NYSE:SRE) by 9.1% during the third quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 18,978,605 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,582,653 shares during the period. Fmr LLC’s holdings in Sempra were worth $1,587,181,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Perennial Investment Advisors LLC lifted its position in Sempra by 2.8% in the 2nd quarter. Perennial Investment Advisors LLC now owns 4,963 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $377,000 after acquiring an additional 134 shares in the last quarter. Transcend Capital Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of Sempra by 2.8% during the 2nd quarter. Transcend Capital Advisors LLC now owns 4,983 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $379,000 after buying an additional 136 shares in the last quarter. Marcum Wealth LLC lifted its position in shares of Sempra by 3.5% during the 2nd quarter. Marcum Wealth LLC now owns 4,019 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $306,000 after buying an additional 137 shares in the last quarter. Private Advisor Group LLC lifted its position in shares of Sempra by 1.6% during the 3rd quarter. Private Advisor Group LLC now owns 8,742 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $731,000 after buying an additional 139 shares in the last quarter. Finally, SeaCrest Wealth Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Sempra by 4.0% during the 2nd quarter. SeaCrest Wealth Management LLC now owns 3,794 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $289,000 after buying an additional 147 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 89.65% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts have commented on the stock. Morgan Stanley lifted their target price on shares of Sempra from $80.00 to $85.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, September 25th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted 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. Jefferies Financial Group began coverage on shares of Sempra in a research note on Thursday, October 24th. They set a “buy” rating and a $98.00 price target for the company. BMO Capital Markets raised their price target on shares of Sempra from $93.00 to $96.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, October 21st. Finally, Barclays raised their price target on shares of Sempra from $87.00 to $89.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 1st. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has issued a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Sempra currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $89.00.

Sempra Stock Down 1.6 %

Sempra stock opened at $93.28 on Wednesday. Sempra has a 1-year low of $66.40 and a 1-year high of $95.77. The firm has a market capitalization of $59.08 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.55, a P/E/G ratio of 2.60 and a beta of 0.75. The company has a current ratio of 0.52, a quick ratio of 0.47 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.89. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $86.07 and a 200 day simple moving average of $80.97.

Sempra (NYSE:SRE) last released its quarterly earnings data 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). 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 quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $1.08 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 16.7% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts predict that Sempra will post 4.77 earnings per share for the current year.

Sempra Announces Dividend

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 given a dividend of $0.62 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, December 5th. This represents a $2.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.66%. Sempra’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 54.63%.

Insider Activity

In other news, VP Trevor I. Mihalik sold 23,713 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction 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 directly owns 11,190 shares in the company, valued at $1,041,677.10. The trade was a 67.94 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Company insiders own 0.27% of the company’s stock.

Sempra 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.