Sempra (NYSE:SRE) Shares Sold by Mission Wealth Management LP

Mission Wealth Management LP reduced its stake in shares of Sempra (NYSE:SRE) by 9.8% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 2,660 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 289 shares during the quarter. Mission Wealth Management LP’s holdings in Sempra were worth $233,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. FMR LLC grew its stake in shares of Sempra by 9.1% in the 3rd 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 in the last quarter. State Street Corp grew its holdings in shares of 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 boosted its holdings in Sempra by 201.2% in the third quarter. National Bank of Canada FI now owns 620,394 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $51,882,000 after acquiring an additional 414,406 shares during the last quarter. Unigestion Holding SA bought a new position in Sempra in the third quarter valued at about $33,023,000. Finally, Bank of Montreal Can lifted its stake in Sempra by 38.3% in the third quarter. Bank of Montreal Can now owns 1,420,045 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $118,219,000 after buying an additional 393,277 shares during the period. 89.65% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts recently issued reports on SRE shares. The Goldman Sachs Group downgraded Sempra from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and decreased their price objective for the stock from $99.00 to $76.00 in a report on Wednesday, February 26th. Guggenheim dropped their price target on Sempra from $95.00 to $87.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, February 26th. Mizuho dropped their price objective on Sempra from $92.00 to $76.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, February 26th. Morgan Stanley reduced their price objective on Sempra from $100.00 to $85.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, February 26th. Finally, Evercore ISI upped their price target on Sempra from $84.00 to $88.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 7th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Sempra has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $81.50.

Sempra Stock Performance

NYSE:SRE opened at $69.55 on Friday. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $81.79 and its 200 day moving average is $84.47. Sempra has a fifty-two week low of $64.89 and a fifty-two week high of $95.77. The firm has a market capitalization of $45.31 billion, a PE ratio of 15.32, a PEG ratio of 2.19 and a beta of 0.78. 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 (NYSE:SRE) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 25th. The utilities provider reported $1.50 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.47 by $0.03. Sempra had a return on equity of 8.06% and a net margin of 22.63%. The company had revenue of $3.76 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.73 billion. During the same period last year, the business posted $1.13 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 7.6% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Sempra will post 4.76 earnings per share for the current year.

Sempra Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 15th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, March 20th will be paid a $0.645 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, March 20th. This is a positive change from Sempra’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.62. This represents a $2.58 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.71%. Sempra’s payout ratio is currently 58.37%.

Insider Transactions at Sempra

In other news, SVP Alexander Lisa Larroque sold 2,755 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $81.93, for a total transaction of $225,717.15. Following the completion of 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 represents a 16.54 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CEO Jeffrey W. Martin sold 49,737 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated 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 completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $165.88. This trade represents a 100.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 0.24% 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.