TIAA Trust National Association Buys 654 Shares of Sempra (NYSE:SRE)

TIAA Trust National Association raised its position in shares of Sempra (NYSE:SRE) by 9.5% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 7,565 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 654 shares during the quarter. TIAA Trust National Association’s holdings in Sempra were worth $664,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in SRE. State Street Corp increased its position in shares of Sempra by 4.9% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 32,940,620 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $2,774,974,000 after buying an additional 1,539,026 shares during the period. Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new position in shares of Sempra in the 4th quarter worth about $123,614,000. KLP Kapitalforvaltning AS bought a new position in shares of Sempra in the 4th quarter worth about $43,956,000. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Sempra by 0.8% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 63,018,055 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $5,527,944,000 after purchasing an additional 490,269 shares during the period. Finally, National Bank of Canada FI boosted its position in shares of Sempra by 201.2% during the 3rd quarter. National Bank of Canada FI now owns 620,394 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $51,882,000 after purchasing an additional 414,406 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 89.65% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts have weighed in on the company. Mizuho lowered their target price on Sempra from $92.00 to $76.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, February 26th. BMO Capital Markets cut their target price on shares of Sempra from $92.00 to $78.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, March 4th. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price target on shares of Sempra from $88.00 to $85.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday. UBS Group lowered shares of Sempra from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and dropped their price objective for the company from $95.00 to $78.00 in a report on Wednesday, February 26th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group restated a “hold” rating and issued a $77.00 target price (down from $96.00) on shares of Sempra in a research note on Monday, March 3rd. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Sempra currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $81.33.

Insider Activity at Sempra

In other Sempra news, SVP Alexander Lisa Larroque sold 2,755 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $81.93, for a total transaction of $225,717.15. Following the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 13,905 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,139,236.65. This represents a 16.54 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, Director Michael N. Mears bought 1,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, March 10th. The shares were acquired at an average price of $67.70 per share, with a total value of $67,700.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 5,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $338,500. This trade represents a 25.00 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have bought 9,319 shares of company stock worth $651,676. Insiders own 0.24% of the company’s stock.

Sempra Stock Down 0.9 %

SRE stock opened at $70.15 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $45.70 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.45, a P/E/G ratio of 2.19 and a beta of 0.76. The company has a current ratio of 0.52, a quick ratio of 0.47 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.89. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $77.54 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $83.22. Sempra has a 1-year low of $64.89 and a 1-year high of $95.77.

Sempra (NYSE:SRE) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 25th. The utilities provider reported $1.50 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.47 by $0.03. The company had revenue of $3.76 billion during 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%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $1.13 earnings per share. Analysts expect that Sempra will post 4.76 EPS for the current year.

Sempra Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared 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 represents a $2.58 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.68%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, March 20th. This is a boost from Sempra’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.62. Sempra’s payout ratio is 58.37%.

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.