JPMorgan Chase & Co. Sells 171,575 Shares of Sempra (NYSE:SRE)

JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced its stake in shares of Sempra (NYSE:SRE) by 5.0% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 3,256,557 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 171,575 shares during the period. JPMorgan Chase & Co.’s holdings in Sempra were worth $285,665,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Townsquare Capital LLC boosted its position in Sempra by 45.2% in the 3rd quarter. Townsquare Capital LLC now owns 31,337 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $2,621,000 after buying an additional 9,758 shares during the period. Glenmede Trust Co. NA boosted its holdings in shares of Sempra by 0.7% in the third quarter. Glenmede Trust Co. NA now owns 41,393 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $3,462,000 after purchasing an additional 305 shares during the period. CreativeOne Wealth LLC grew its stake in Sempra by 240.8% in the third quarter. CreativeOne Wealth LLC now owns 10,247 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $857,000 after purchasing an additional 7,240 shares in the last quarter. Northwest & Ethical Investments L.P. purchased a new position in Sempra during the 3rd quarter worth $201,000. Finally, Fred Alger Management LLC raised its position in Sempra by 4.9% during the 3rd quarter. Fred Alger Management LLC now owns 47,214 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $3,949,000 after purchasing an additional 2,189 shares in the last quarter. 89.65% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms have recently issued reports on SRE. Jefferies Financial Group reissued a “hold” rating and set a $77.00 price target (down previously from $96.00) on shares of Sempra in a research report on Monday, March 3rd. Morgan Stanley raised their target price on shares of Sempra from $85.00 to $86.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 20th. Barclays cut shares of Sempra from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and lowered their price target for the stock from $95.00 to $72.00 in a research report on Thursday, February 27th. UBS Group lowered shares of Sempra from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and cut their price objective for the company from $95.00 to $78.00 in a report on Wednesday, February 26th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets lowered their target price on Sempra from $92.00 to $78.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, March 4th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Sempra has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $81.33.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO Jeffrey W. Martin sold 49,737 shares of the stock in a transaction 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 in the company, valued at $165.88. This represents a 100.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, SVP Alexander Lisa Larroque sold 2,755 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $81.93, for a total transaction of $225,717.15. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 13,905 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,139,236.65. This trade represents a 16.54 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders bought 9,319 shares of company stock valued at $651,676. 0.24% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Sempra Price Performance

Shares of NYSE SRE opened at $69.65 on Monday. Sempra has a fifty-two week low of $64.89 and a fifty-two week high of $95.77. The company has a market cap of $45.37 billion, a PE ratio of 15.34, a P/E/G ratio of 2.19 and a beta of 0.76. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.89, a quick ratio of 0.47 and a current ratio of 0.52. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $77.23 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $83.15.

Sempra (NYSE:SRE) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, February 25th. The utilities provider reported $1.50 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.47 by $0.03. The company had revenue of $3.76 billion for 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%. Sempra’s revenue was up 7.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $1.13 EPS. As a group, equities analysts expect that Sempra will post 4.76 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Sempra Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 15th. Investors of record on Thursday, March 20th will be paid a $0.645 dividend. This is a positive change from Sempra’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.62. 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 3.70%. Sempra’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 58.37%.

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.