Graypoint LLC Has $394,000 Position in Sempra (NYSE:SRE)

Graypoint LLC raised its stake in shares of Sempra (NYSE:SRE) by 4.5% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 4,487 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 194 shares during the period. Graypoint LLC’s holdings in Sempra were worth $394,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of SRE. FMR LLC grew its stake in Sempra by 9.1% in the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 18,978,605 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,587,181,000 after buying an additional 1,582,653 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp boosted its holdings in Sempra by 4.9% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 32,940,620 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $2,774,974,000 after acquiring an additional 1,539,026 shares during the period. Clearbridge Investments LLC increased its stake in shares of Sempra by 6.9% in the second quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC now owns 13,452,912 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,023,228,000 after purchasing an additional 874,133 shares during the period. National Bank of Canada FI lifted 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 worth $51,882,000 after purchasing an additional 414,406 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Unigestion Holding SA bought a new stake in Sempra during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $33,023,000. Institutional investors own 89.65% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts have commented on SRE shares. Jefferies Financial Group assumed coverage on Sempra in a research report on Thursday, October 24th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $98.00 price target on the stock. BMO Capital Markets boosted their target price on shares of Sempra from $93.00 to $96.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, October 21st. Barclays increased their price target on shares of Sempra from $89.00 to $99.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, December 2nd. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on shares of Sempra from $87.00 to $96.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, November 7th. Finally, Morgan Stanley upgraded shares of Sempra from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and increased their target price for the company from $85.00 to $98.00 in a research note on Friday, December 13th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Sempra has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $91.60.

Insider Activity at Sempra

In other news, VP Trevor I. Mihalik sold 23,713 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 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 this link. 0.24% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Sempra Stock Down 4.7 %

NYSE SRE opened at $78.92 on Friday. Sempra has a 1-year low of $66.40 and a 1-year high of $95.77. The company has a market capitalization of $49.99 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.38, a PEG ratio of 2.45 and a beta of 0.78. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $89.01 and its two-hundred day moving average is $83.66. The company has a current ratio of 0.52, a quick ratio of 0.47 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 the consensus estimate of $1.05 by ($0.16). Sempra had a net margin of 22.63% and a return on equity of 8.06%. The company had revenue of $2.78 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.54 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $1.08 EPS. Sempra’s quarterly revenue was down 16.7% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts forecast that Sempra will post 4.76 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. This represents a $2.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.14%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, December 5th. Sempra’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 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.