Commonwealth Equity Services LLC Sells 1,192 Shares of Sempra (NYSE:SRE)

by · The Markets Daily

Commonwealth Equity Services LLC cut its holdings in shares of Sempra (NYSE:SRE – Free Report) by 1.0% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 122,593 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 1,192 shares during the quarter. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC’s holdings in Sempra were worth $10,754,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in SRE. PGGM Investments bought a new position in Sempra in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $156,000. HBK Sorce Advisory LLC increased its stake in Sempra by 38.2% in the fourth quarter. HBK Sorce Advisory LLC now owns 3,539 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $310,000 after acquiring an additional 979 shares during the last quarter. Erste Asset Management GmbH increased its stake in Sempra by 112.3% in the fourth quarter. Erste Asset Management GmbH now owns 69,227 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $6,070,000 after acquiring an additional 36,626 shares during the last quarter. Tredje AP fonden increased its stake in Sempra by 95.6% in the fourth quarter. Tredje AP fonden now owns 184,433 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $16,178,000 after acquiring an additional 90,131 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Vestcor Inc increased its stake in Sempra by 36.8% in the fourth quarter. Vestcor Inc now owns 29,955 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $2,628,000 after acquiring an additional 8,062 shares during the last quarter. 89.65% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts recently issued reports on the stock. UBS Group cut shares of Sempra from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and decreased their price objective for the company from $95.00 to $78.00 in a research note on Wednesday, February 26th. Morgan Stanley decreased their price objective on shares of Sempra from $100.00 to $85.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, February 26th. Guggenheim cut their target price on shares of Sempra from $95.00 to $87.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, February 26th. Jefferies Financial Group restated a “hold” rating and issued a $77.00 target price (down previously from $96.00) on shares of Sempra in a research report on Monday, March 3rd. Finally, Mizuho cut their target price on shares of Sempra from $92.00 to $76.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, February 26th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Sempra currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $81.50.

Check Out Our Latest Stock Analysis on SRE

Sempra Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:SRE opened at $70.74 on Wednesday. The firm has a market cap of $46.09 billion, a PE ratio of 15.58, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.19 and a beta of 0.76. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $79.04 and its 200-day moving average is $83.84. 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 has a 52 week low of $64.89 and a 52 week high of $95.77.

Sempra (NYSE:SRE – Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 25th. The utilities provider reported $1.50 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.47 by $0.03. The company had revenue of $3.76 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates 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 business earned $1.13 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts predict that Sempra will post 4.76 earnings per share for the current 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 issued a $0.645 dividend. This is a positive change from Sempra’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.62. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, March 20th. This represents a $2.58 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.65%. Sempra’s payout ratio is presently 58.37%.

Insider Activity at Sempra

In related news, CEO Jeffrey W. Martin sold 49,737 shares of the business’s 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 transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 2 shares in the company, valued at $165.88. The trade was a 100.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, SVP Alexander Lisa Larroque sold 2,755 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 11th. The shares were 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 owns 13,905 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,139,236.65. The trade was a 16.54 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have bought a total of 9,319 shares of company stock worth $651,676 over the last quarter. Company insiders own 0.24% of the company’s stock.

About Sempra

(Free Report)

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.

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