First Interstate Bank Sells 802 Shares of Sempra (NYSE:SRE)

First Interstate Bank lowered its holdings in shares of Sempra (NYSE:SRE) by 23.0% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 2,678 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 802 shares during the period. First Interstate Bank’s holdings in Sempra were worth $200,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the business. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank grew its holdings in Sempra by 6.6% during the fourth quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank now owns 219,123 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $16,375,000 after purchasing an additional 13,503 shares during the period. West Paces Advisors Inc. grew its holdings in Sempra by 6.2% during the fourth quarter. West Paces Advisors Inc. now owns 9,824 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $734,000 after purchasing an additional 572 shares during the period. Everence Capital Management Inc. grew its holdings in Sempra by 49.0% during the fourth quarter. Everence Capital Management Inc. now owns 25,816 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,929,000 after purchasing an additional 8,490 shares during the period. Wealth Alliance boosted its holdings in shares of Sempra by 10.3% during the fourth quarter. Wealth Alliance now owns 7,191 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $537,000 after acquiring an additional 674 shares during the period. Finally, Cookson Peirce & Co. Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Sempra by 9.9% during the fourth quarter. Cookson Peirce & Co. Inc. now owns 7,516 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $562,000 after acquiring an additional 678 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 89.65% of the company’s stock.

Sempra Stock Down 2.5 %

NYSE:SRE traded down $1.70 on Wednesday, hitting $66.41. The stock had a trading volume of 3,486,300 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,913,486. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.85, a quick ratio of 0.49 and a current ratio of 0.54. The stock has a market cap of $41.98 billion, a P/E ratio of 13.86, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.35 and a beta of 0.71. Sempra has a 1 year low of $63.75 and a 1 year high of $79.51. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $70.46 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $71.53.

Sempra (NYSE:SRE) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, February 27th. The utilities provider reported $1.13 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.11 by $0.02. Sempra had a net margin of 18.26% and a return on equity of 9.45%. The firm had revenue of $3.49 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.01 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $1.17 EPS. The company’s revenue was up 1.0% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts predict that Sempra will post 4.83 earnings per share for the current year.

Sempra Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, April 15th. Investors of record on Thursday, March 21st were issued a $0.62 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, March 20th. This is an increase from Sempra’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.60. This represents a $2.48 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.73%. Sempra’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 51.77%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

SRE has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Morgan Stanley boosted their price objective on Sempra from $74.00 to $75.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, March 21st. BMO Capital Markets upgraded Sempra from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and boosted their price objective for the stock from $76.00 to $84.00 in a report on Thursday, January 11th. Royal Bank of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and set a $82.00 price objective on shares of Sempra in a report on Wednesday, March 6th. StockNews.com downgraded shares of Sempra from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 20th. Finally, Barclays lifted their price target on shares of Sempra from $77.00 to $79.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 14th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has assigned a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Sempra presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $82.14.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, VP Trevor I. Mihalik sold 57,571 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $70.59, for a total value of $4,063,936.89. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 10,922 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $770,983.98. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. In other news, VP Trevor I. Mihalik sold 57,571 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $70.59, for a total transaction of $4,063,936.89. Following the sale, the vice president now owns 10,922 shares in the company, valued at approximately $770,983.98. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, CEO Jeffrey W. Martin sold 34,190 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, January 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $70.83, for a total transaction of $2,421,677.70. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 2 shares in the company, valued at approximately $141.66. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 156,622 shares of company stock valued at $11,089,713. Company insiders own 0.27% of the company’s stock.

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.