Dai ichi Life Insurance Company Ltd Trims Position in Sempra (NYSE:SRE)

Dai ichi Life Insurance Company Ltd trimmed its position in Sempra (NYSE:SRE) by 86.3% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 26,954 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 170,000 shares during the period. Dai ichi Life Insurance Company Ltd’s holdings in Sempra were worth $2,254,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Qsemble Capital Management LP purchased a new position in shares of Sempra in the third quarter worth approximately $1,230,000. Bank of Montreal Can boosted its stake in shares of Sempra by 38.3% during the 3rd quarter. Bank of Montreal Can now owns 1,420,045 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $118,219,000 after acquiring an additional 393,277 shares during the last quarter. Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. grew its position in shares of Sempra by 24.7% during the 3rd quarter. Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. now owns 5,512 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $461,000 after acquiring an additional 1,092 shares during the period. DRW Securities LLC raised its holdings in Sempra by 2,898.4% in the 3rd quarter. DRW Securities LLC now owns 119,996 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $10,035,000 after purchasing an additional 115,994 shares during the period. Finally, Dynamic Technology Lab Private Ltd purchased a new position in Sempra during the third quarter valued at $466,000. 89.65% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

SRE has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Barclays increased their price objective 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. Jefferies Financial Group began coverage on Sempra in a research note on Thursday, October 24th. They set a “buy” rating and a $98.00 price target for the company. Evercore ISI lifted their price objective on Sempra from $84.00 to $88.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 7th. Morgan Stanley increased their target price on Sempra from $80.00 to $85.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, September 25th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on shares of Sempra from $87.00 to $96.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 7th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has given a hold rating and ten have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $89.00.

Sempra Trading Up 1.1 %

SRE stock opened at $94.28 on Thursday. The company has a market capitalization of $59.72 billion, a PE ratio of 20.77, a P/E/G ratio of 2.60 and a beta of 0.75. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.89, a current ratio of 0.52 and a quick ratio of 0.47. Sempra has a 12 month low of $66.40 and a 12 month high of $95.77. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $86.30 and its 200 day moving average is $81.07.

Sempra (NYSE:SRE) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, November 6th. The utilities provider reported $0.89 earnings per share (EPS) 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 firm had revenue of $2.78 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.54 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $1.08 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 16.7% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts anticipate that Sempra will post 4.77 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 paid a dividend of $0.62 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, December 5th. This represents a $2.48 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.63%. Sempra’s dividend payout ratio is currently 54.63%.

Insider Activity at Sempra

In other Sempra news, VP Trevor I. Mihalik sold 23,713 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated 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 transaction, the vice president now owns 11,190 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,041,677.10. This trade represents a 67.94 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. 0.27% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.