Sempra (NYSE:SRE) Stake Boosted by Webster Bank N. A.

Webster Bank N. A. raised its holdings in shares of Sempra (NYSE:SRE) by 4,183.3% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 771 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 753 shares during the period. Webster Bank N. A.’s holdings in Sempra were worth $68,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of SRE. AQR Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Sempra by 173.6% in the 2nd quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 209,735 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $15,952,000 after acquiring an additional 133,085 shares during the period. Creative Planning grew its position in Sempra by 16.8% in the 2nd quarter. Creative Planning now owns 78,726 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $5,988,000 after purchasing an additional 11,303 shares during the last quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. increased its stake in shares of Sempra by 5.6% in the second quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. now owns 27,684 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $2,106,000 after purchasing an additional 1,463 shares during the period. NewEdge Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of Sempra by 3.6% during the second quarter. NewEdge Advisors LLC now owns 18,146 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,380,000 after buying an additional 624 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Kimelman & Baird LLC acquired a new position in shares of Sempra during the second quarter worth approximately $114,000. 89.65% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have recently issued reports on SRE. Evercore ISI increased their price target 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 raised shares of Sempra from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and raised their target price for the company from $85.00 to $98.00 in a research note on Friday, December 13th. Jefferies Financial Group initiated coverage on shares of Sempra in a research note on Thursday, October 24th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $98.00 price target for the company. Barclays lowered their price objective on shares of Sempra from $99.00 to $95.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday. Finally, BMO Capital Markets upped their target price on Sempra from $93.00 to $96.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, October 21st. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $91.20.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Sempra news, VP Trevor I. Mihalik sold 23,713 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 sale, the vice president now directly owns 11,190 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,041,677.10. The trade was a 67.94 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Insiders own 0.24% of the company’s stock.

Sempra Price Performance

NYSE SRE opened at $82.16 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.89, a current ratio of 0.52 and a quick ratio of 0.47. The firm has a market capitalization of $52.04 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.10, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.10 and a beta of 0.78. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $87.72 and a 200-day simple moving average of $84.22. Sempra has a 52-week low of $66.40 and a 52-week high of $95.77.

Sempra (NYSE:SRE) last released its 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 return on equity of 8.06% and a net margin of 22.63%. The company 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 company earned $1.08 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 16.7% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts predict that Sempra will post 4.77 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Sempra Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, January 15th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, December 5th were paid a $0.62 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, December 5th. This represents a $2.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.02%. Sempra’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 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.