Sempra (NYSE:SRE) Position Decreased by Corient Private Wealth LLC

Corient Private Wealth LLC lowered its holdings in Sempra (NYSE:SRE) by 3.3% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 625,852 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 21,094 shares during the period. Corient Private Wealth LLC owned about 0.10% of Sempra worth $54,896,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in SRE. Wellington Management Group LLP grew its position in Sempra by 0.4% in the third quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 34,324,893 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $2,870,591,000 after buying an additional 128,847 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp boosted its stake in shares of Sempra by 4.9% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 32,940,620 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $2,774,974,000 after acquiring an additional 1,539,026 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC grew its holdings 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 worth $1,587,181,000 after acquiring an additional 1,582,653 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its position in shares of Sempra by 1.2% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 12,761,872 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,063,007,000 after purchasing an additional 145,873 shares during the period. Finally, Franklin Resources Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Sempra by 1.7% during the third quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 7,695,988 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $639,921,000 after purchasing an additional 129,891 shares during the last quarter. 89.65% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts have issued reports on SRE shares. BMO Capital Markets cut their price objective on Sempra from $92.00 to $78.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, March 4th. Wells Fargo & Company cut their price target on shares of Sempra from $96.00 to $88.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, February 26th. Barclays lowered shares of Sempra from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and decreased their price objective for the stock from $95.00 to $72.00 in a research note on Thursday, February 27th. UBS Group lowered Sempra from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and reduced their target price for the company from $95.00 to $78.00 in a report on Wednesday, February 26th. Finally, Guggenheim reduced their price objective on Sempra from $95.00 to $87.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, February 26th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Sempra has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $81.50.

Sempra Stock Performance

SRE stock opened at $70.30 on Monday. The company has a market capitalization of $45.80 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.48, a P/E/G ratio of 2.19 and a beta of 0.76. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $79.57 and a two-hundred day moving average of $84.00. The company has a quick ratio of 0.47, a current ratio of 0.52 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.89. Sempra has a 12 month low of $64.89 and a 12 month high of $95.77.

Sempra (NYSE:SRE) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, February 25th. The utilities provider reported $1.50 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.47 by $0.03. Sempra had a net margin of 22.63% and a return on equity of 8.06%. The firm had revenue of $3.76 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.73 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $1.13 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 7.6% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Sempra will post 4.76 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Sempra Increases Dividend

The business 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. This represents a $2.58 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.67%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, March 20th. Sempra’s payout ratio is 58.37%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Sempra news, 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 transaction of $4,125,186.78. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly 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 at the SEC website. Also, Director James C. Yardley acquired 5,019 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 12th. The stock was acquired at an average price of $69.74 per share, for a total transaction of $350,025.06. Following the completion of the purchase, the director now directly owns 5,019 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $350,025.06. This trade represents a ∞ increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Insiders purchased 6,719 shares of company stock valued at $467,180 over the last 90 days. 0.27% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.