Trivant Custom Portfolio Group LLC Reduces Stock Position in Sempra (NYSE:SRE)

Trivant Custom Portfolio Group LLC lessened its position in Sempra (NYSE:SRE) by 3.3% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 16,282 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 560 shares during the period. Trivant Custom Portfolio Group LLC’s holdings in Sempra were worth $1,428,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Unigestion Holding SA bought a new stake in shares of Sempra in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $33,023,000. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its holdings in Sempra by 8.8% in 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 in the last quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. increased its position in Sempra by 1.9% during the 3rd quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 357,107 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $29,865,000 after purchasing an additional 6,709 shares during the period. Kovitz Investment Group Partners LLC bought a new position in Sempra in the 3rd quarter worth $675,000. Finally, Sanctuary Advisors LLC raised its holdings in Sempra by 14.4% in the 3rd quarter. Sanctuary Advisors LLC now owns 190,714 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $15,949,000 after purchasing an additional 23,970 shares in the last quarter. 89.65% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Barclays boosted their price target on shares of Sempra from $89.00 to $99.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, December 2nd. Morgan Stanley upgraded Sempra from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and lifted their price target for the company from $85.00 to $98.00 in a research 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 report on Thursday, November 7th. Evercore ISI upped their price objective on shares of Sempra from $84.00 to $88.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, November 7th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets lifted their target price on shares of Sempra from $93.00 to $96.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, October 21st. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating and ten have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $91.60.

Insider Transactions at Sempra

In other Sempra news, VP Trevor I. Mihalik sold 23,713 shares of the company’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 directly owns 11,190 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,041,677.10. This represents a 67.94 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Company insiders own 0.27% of the company’s stock.

Sempra Trading Up 1.5 %

Shares of NYSE:SRE opened at $85.24 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.89, a current ratio of 0.52 and a quick ratio of 0.47. Sempra has a 1 year low of $66.40 and a 1 year high of $95.77. The company has a market cap of $53.99 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.77, a PEG ratio of 2.00 and a beta of 0.78. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $88.62 and its 200-day moving average price is $83.73.

Sempra (NYSE:SRE) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, November 6th. The utilities provider reported $0.89 earnings per share (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 company had revenue of $2.78 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.54 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $1.08 EPS. The business’s revenue was down 16.7% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts expect that Sempra will post 4.77 earnings per share for the current year.

Sempra Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, January 15th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, December 5th were given a dividend of $0.62 per share. This represents a $2.48 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.91%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, December 5th. Sempra’s payout ratio 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.