TIAA Trust National Association Buys 654 Shares of Sempra (NYSE:SRE)

TIAA Trust National Association lifted its stake in shares of Sempra (NYSE:SRE) by 9.5% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 7,565 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after buying an additional 654 shares during the quarter. TIAA Trust National Association’s holdings in Sempra were worth $664,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the stock. Crews Bank & Trust acquired a new stake in Sempra during the fourth quarter worth approximately $26,000. Synergy Investment Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Sempra during the fourth quarter worth approximately $29,000. TCTC Holdings LLC boosted its stake in Sempra by 265.2% in the 4th quarter. TCTC Holdings LLC now owns 336 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $29,000 after purchasing an additional 244 shares during the period. Human Investing LLC bought a new stake in Sempra in the 4th quarter valued at $31,000. Finally, ST Germain D J Co. Inc. grew its holdings in Sempra by 225.6% in the 4th quarter. ST Germain D J Co. Inc. now owns 433 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $38,000 after buying an additional 300 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 89.65% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms recently commented on SRE. BMO Capital Markets decreased their price target on shares of Sempra from $92.00 to $78.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, March 4th. Jefferies Financial Group restated a “hold” rating and set a $77.00 target price (down previously from $96.00) on shares of Sempra in a research report on Monday, March 3rd. Barclays cut Sempra from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and cut their price target for the company from $95.00 to $72.00 in a research note on Thursday, February 27th. Guggenheim lowered their price objective on Sempra from $95.00 to $87.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, February 26th. Finally, Morgan Stanley upped their target price on Sempra from $85.00 to $86.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 20th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $81.33.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Michael N. Mears acquired 1,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 10th. The stock was bought at an average price of $67.70 per share, with a total value of $67,700.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the director now directly owns 5,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $338,500. This represents a 25.00 % increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director Pablo Ferrero bought 2,600 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 17th. The shares were acquired at an average price of $70.96 per share, for a total transaction of $184,496.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 15,649 shares in the company, valued at $1,110,453.04. This trade represents a 19.92 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Insiders bought a total of 9,319 shares of company stock valued at $651,676 in the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 0.24% of the company’s stock.

Sempra Stock Down 0.9 %

SRE stock opened at $70.15 on Friday. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $77.54 and a 200-day moving average price of $83.22. Sempra has a 12 month low of $64.89 and a 12 month high of $95.77. 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 stock has a market capitalization of $45.70 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.45, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.19 and a beta of 0.76.

Sempra (NYSE:SRE) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 25th. The utilities provider reported $1.50 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.47 by $0.03. The business had revenue of $3.76 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.73 billion. Sempra had a net margin of 22.63% and a return on equity of 8.06%. The firm’s revenue was up 7.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $1.13 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Sempra will post 4.76 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Sempra Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 15th. Investors of record on Thursday, March 20th will be given a dividend of $0.645 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, March 20th. This represents a $2.58 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.68%. This is a positive change from Sempra’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.62. Sempra’s payout ratio is currently 58.37%.

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.