BRITISH COLUMBIA INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT Corp Decreases Holdings in Sempra (NYSE:SRE)

BRITISH COLUMBIA INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT Corp trimmed its holdings in shares of Sempra (NYSE:SRE) by 3.7% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 400,594 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 15,494 shares during the quarter. BRITISH COLUMBIA INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT Corp owned 0.06% of Sempra worth $33,502,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the business. FMR LLC grew its holdings in Sempra by 9.1% during the 3rd 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 during the last quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC grew its holdings in Sempra by 6.9% during the 2nd quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC now owns 13,452,912 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,023,228,000 after purchasing an additional 874,133 shares during the last quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA grew its holdings in Sempra by 3.0% during 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 purchasing an additional 125,833 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its holdings in Sempra by 1.4% during the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 3,625,473 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $303,198,000 after purchasing an additional 48,512 shares during the last quarter. Finally, DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale grew its holdings in Sempra by 2.1% during the 2nd quarter. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale now owns 2,404,573 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $182,158,000 after purchasing an additional 48,592 shares during the last quarter. 89.65% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

SRE has been the topic of several analyst reports. BMO Capital Markets upped their target price on shares of Sempra from $93.00 to $96.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, October 21st. Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price on shares of Sempra from $87.00 to $96.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 7th. Barclays upped their target price on shares of Sempra from $87.00 to $89.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 1st. Bank of America initiated coverage on shares of Sempra in a research note on Thursday, September 12th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $94.00 target price on the stock. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group assumed coverage on shares of Sempra in a research note on Thursday, October 24th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $98.00 target price on the stock. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has assigned a hold rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $89.00.

Insider Activity at Sempra

In other Sempra news, VP Trevor I. Mihalik sold 23,713 shares of the firm’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 owns 11,190 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,041,677.10. This trade represents a 67.94 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. 0.24% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Sempra Price Performance

Shares of SRE opened at $93.77 on Friday. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $86.75 and a 200-day moving average price of $81.27. Sempra has a fifty-two week low of $66.40 and a fifty-two week high of $95.77. The stock has a market capitalization of $59.39 billion, a PE ratio of 20.65, a PEG ratio of 2.59 and a beta of 0.75. 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 posted its earnings results on Wednesday, November 6th. The utilities provider reported $0.89 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.05 by ($0.16). Sempra had a net margin of 22.63% and a return on equity of 8.06%. The firm had revenue of $2.78 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.54 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $1.08 EPS. The company’s revenue was down 16.7% on a year-over-year basis. Equities 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 will be paid on Wednesday, January 15th. Investors of record on Thursday, December 5th will be given a dividend of $0.62 per share. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, December 5th. This represents a $2.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.64%. Sempra’s payout ratio is 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.