Versant Capital Management Inc Buys 561 Shares of Sempra (NYSE:SRE)

Versant Capital Management Inc lifted its stake in shares of Sempra (NYSE:SRE) by 126.1% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 1,006 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 561 shares during the period. Versant Capital Management Inc’s holdings in Sempra were worth $88,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Unigestion Holding SA bought a new position in shares of Sempra in the third quarter worth approximately $33,023,000. Dai ichi Life Insurance Company Ltd lifted its stake in shares of Sempra by 319.5% during the 2nd quarter. Dai ichi Life Insurance Company Ltd now owns 196,954 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $14,980,000 after buying an additional 150,000 shares in the last quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. boosted its holdings in Sempra by 1.9% in the 3rd quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 357,107 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $29,865,000 after buying an additional 6,709 shares during the period. Kovitz Investment Group Partners LLC purchased a new stake in Sempra in the 3rd quarter worth $675,000. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised its holdings in Sempra by 8.8% during the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 3,428,132 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $286,695,000 after acquiring an additional 278,183 shares during the period. 89.65% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity at Sempra

In related news, VP Trevor I. Mihalik sold 23,713 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, November 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $93.09, for a total transaction of $2,207,443.17. Following the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 11,190 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,041,677.10. This represents a 67.94 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. 0.24% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

SRE has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Barclays upped their price objective on Sempra from $89.00 to $99.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, December 2nd. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on shares of Sempra from $87.00 to $96.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, November 7th. Jefferies Financial Group began coverage on shares of Sempra in a research report on Thursday, October 24th. They set a “buy” rating and a $98.00 price objective on the stock. Morgan Stanley upgraded shares of Sempra from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and upped their target price for the stock from $85.00 to $98.00 in a research report on Friday, December 13th. Finally, Bank of America began coverage on shares of Sempra in a research note on Thursday, September 12th. They set a “buy” rating and a $94.00 target price for the company. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating and ten have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Sempra presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $91.60.

Sempra Price Performance

Sempra stock opened at $87.67 on Friday. Sempra has a 52-week low of $66.40 and a 52-week high of $95.77. The company has a market cap of $55.53 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.31, a PEG ratio of 2.45 and a beta of 0.78. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $89.10 and its 200 day moving average is $83.35. 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 (NYSE:SRE) last announced its quarterly 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 business had revenue of $2.78 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.54 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $1.08 EPS. The firm’s revenue was down 16.7% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts forecast that Sempra will post 4.76 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Sempra Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, January 15th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, December 5th will be given a dividend of $0.62 per share. This represents a $2.48 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.83%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, December 5th. Sempra’s dividend payout ratio is currently 54.63%.

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.