LGT Group Foundation Grows Position in Sempra (NYSE:SRE)

LGT Group Foundation boosted its position in Sempra (NYSE:SRE) by 10.1% during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 25,246 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 2,306 shares during the quarter. LGT Group Foundation’s holdings in Sempra were worth $1,920,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Wellington Management Group LLP increased its holdings in shares of Sempra by 12.1% in the 4th quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 27,123,899 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $2,026,969,000 after acquiring an additional 2,917,668 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of Sempra in the 4th quarter valued at $958,253,000. Clearbridge Investments LLC lifted its position in Sempra by 1.9% in the first quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC now owns 12,578,779 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $903,534,000 after acquiring an additional 233,819 shares during the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. lifted its position in Sempra by 7.7% in the fourth quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 7,077,642 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $528,912,000 after acquiring an additional 507,622 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Perpetual Ltd boosted its stake in Sempra by 4.8% in the first quarter. Perpetual Ltd now owns 2,891,026 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $207,662,000 after acquiring an additional 133,119 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 89.65% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts have recently commented on the company. Barclays lifted their target price on Sempra from $81.00 to $87.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 13th. BMO Capital Markets cut their price target on Sempra from $86.00 to $84.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, July 10th. Evercore ISI increased their price objective on Sempra from $83.00 to $84.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, August 7th. Morgan Stanley raised their price objective on shares of Sempra from $77.00 to $80.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, August 23rd. Finally, LADENBURG THALM/SH SH dropped their target price on Sempra from $81.50 to $79.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, May 29th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has assigned a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $83.36.

Insider Activity

In related news, CAO Peter R. Wall sold 6,100 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, June 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $75.07, for a total value of $457,927.00. Following the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 14,751 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,107,357.57. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Insiders own 0.24% of the company’s stock.

Sempra Trading Up 1.0 %

Shares of SRE stock opened at $82.94 on Tuesday. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $79.16 and its 200 day moving average price is $75.20. The firm has a market capitalization of $52.51 billion, a PE ratio of 18.37, a P/E/G ratio of 2.86 and a beta of 0.75. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.84, a current ratio of 0.46 and a quick ratio of 0.41. Sempra has a 1-year low of $63.75 and a 1-year high of $84.28.

Sempra (NYSE:SRE) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, August 6th. The utilities provider reported $0.89 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.92 by ($0.03). The company had revenue of $3.01 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.46 billion. Sempra had a return on equity of 8.58% and a net margin of 22.31%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 9.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.94 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Sempra will post 4.79 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Sempra Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, October 15th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, September 26th will be issued a $0.62 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, September 26th. This represents a $2.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.99%. Sempra’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 54.93%.

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.