32,601 Shares in Sempra (NYSE:SRE) Acquired by Erste Asset Management GmbH

Erste Asset Management GmbH bought a new stake in shares of Sempra (NYSE:SRE) during the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm bought 32,601 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $2,707,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the stock. FMR LLC boosted its position in Sempra by 9.1% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 18,978,605 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,587,181,000 after purchasing an additional 1,582,653 shares in the last quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC lifted its position in shares of Sempra by 6.9% during the second quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC now owns 13,452,912 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,023,228,000 after buying an additional 874,133 shares during the last quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA boosted its holdings in shares of Sempra by 3.0% in the 3rd quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 4,335,339 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $362,564,000 after buying an additional 125,833 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its position in shares of Sempra by 1.4% in the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 3,625,473 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $303,198,000 after buying an additional 48,512 shares during the last quarter. Finally, DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale raised its stake in shares of Sempra by 2.1% during the 2nd quarter. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale now owns 2,404,573 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $182,158,000 after acquiring an additional 48,592 shares in the last quarter. 89.65% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts have weighed in on SRE shares. Evercore ISI raised their target price on shares of Sempra from $84.00 to $88.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 7th. Barclays raised their price objective on Sempra from $89.00 to $99.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday. Morgan Stanley upped 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. BMO Capital Markets raised their price target on Sempra from $93.00 to $96.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, October 21st. Finally, 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 on the stock. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has issued a hold rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $89.91.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, VP Trevor I. Mihalik sold 23,713 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, November 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $93.09, for a total value of $2,207,443.17. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 11,190 shares in the company, valued at $1,041,677.10. The trade was a 67.94 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Insiders own 0.27% of the company’s stock.

Sempra Stock Down 1.7 %

SRE stock opened at $92.12 on Tuesday. The company has a market capitalization of $58.35 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.29, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.57 and a beta of 0.77. Sempra has a 12 month low of $66.40 and a 12 month high of $95.77. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $86.75 and its 200-day simple moving average is $81.33. 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 (NYSE:SRE) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, November 6th. The utilities provider reported $0.89 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.05 by ($0.16). The company had revenue of $2.78 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.54 billion. Sempra had a return on equity of 8.06% and a net margin of 22.63%. Sempra’s revenue for the quarter was down 16.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $1.08 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Sempra will post 4.77 earnings per share for the current year.

Sempra Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, January 15th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, December 5th will be issued a $0.62 dividend. This represents a $2.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.69%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, December 5th. Sempra’s payout ratio is presently 54.63%.

Sempra Company 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.