Pensionfund Sabic Acquires 5,000 Shares of Sempra (NYSE:SRE)

Pensionfund Sabic grew its holdings in shares of Sempra (NYSE:SRE) by 30.5% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 21,400 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after buying an additional 5,000 shares during the quarter. Pensionfund Sabic’s holdings in Sempra were worth $1,877,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Eastern Bank bought a new position in shares of Sempra in the third quarter valued at approximately $28,000. Hollencrest Capital Management grew its stake in shares of Sempra by 250.0% in the 3rd quarter. Hollencrest Capital Management now owns 378 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $32,000 after acquiring an additional 270 shares in the last quarter. Ashton Thomas Private Wealth LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Sempra in the second quarter valued at about $33,000. LRI Investments LLC lifted its position in shares of Sempra by 180.4% during the third quarter. LRI Investments LLC now owns 443 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $40,000 after purchasing an additional 285 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Mather Group LLC. grew its position in Sempra by 35.5% in the 3rd quarter. Mather Group LLC. now owns 740 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $62,000 after purchasing an additional 194 shares in the last quarter. 89.65% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity

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

Sempra Stock Down 1.4 %

Shares of SRE stock traded down $1.24 during mid-day trading on Monday, hitting $86.43. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 202,779 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,754,509. The stock has a market cap of $54.74 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.04, a PEG ratio of 2.45 and a beta of 0.78. 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 has a 52-week low of $66.40 and a 52-week high of $95.77. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $89.10 and a 200 day moving average price of $83.47.

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). The company had revenue of $2.78 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.54 billion. Sempra had a return on equity of 8.06% and a net margin of 22.63%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 16.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm posted $1.08 EPS. Research analysts predict that Sempra will post 4.76 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Sempra Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, January 15th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, December 5th will be paid 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 dividend yield of 2.87%. Sempra’s dividend payout ratio is currently 54.63%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts have recently issued reports on SRE shares. BMO Capital Markets upped their target price on Sempra from $93.00 to $96.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, October 21st. Morgan Stanley upgraded shares of Sempra from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and raised their price objective for the stock from $85.00 to $98.00 in a report on Friday, December 13th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on shares of Sempra from $87.00 to $96.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 7th. Evercore ISI raised their price target on shares of Sempra from $84.00 to $88.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 7th. Finally, Barclays raised their target price on Sempra from $89.00 to $99.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, December 2nd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $91.60.

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.