Petix & Botte Co Sells 4,230 Shares of Sempra (NYSE:SRE)

Petix & Botte Co decreased its position in Sempra (NYSE:SRE) by 17.5% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 20,000 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 4,230 shares during the quarter. Petix & Botte Co’s holdings in Sempra were worth $1,754,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. FMR LLC lifted its stake in shares of 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 acquiring an additional 1,582,653 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp increased its stake in Sempra by 4.9% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 32,940,620 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $2,774,974,000 after purchasing an additional 1,539,026 shares during the period. Clearbridge Investments LLC lifted its position in Sempra by 6.9% in the second quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC now owns 13,452,912 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,023,228,000 after purchasing an additional 874,133 shares during the last quarter. National Bank of Canada FI boosted its stake in shares of Sempra by 201.2% during the third quarter. National Bank of Canada FI now owns 620,394 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $51,882,000 after purchasing an additional 414,406 shares during the period. Finally, Unigestion Holding SA bought a new position in shares of Sempra in the third quarter worth approximately $33,023,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 89.65% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Sempra news, VP Trevor I. Mihalik sold 23,713 shares of Sempra stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, November 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $93.09, for a total value of $2,207,443.17. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 11,190 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,041,677.10. The trade was 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 this link. Corporate insiders own 0.24% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts recently commented on SRE shares. Barclays upped 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. Jefferies Financial Group initiated coverage on shares of Sempra in a report on Thursday, October 24th. They set a “buy” rating and a $98.00 target price for the company. Evercore ISI boosted their price target on Sempra from $84.00 to $88.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, November 7th. Morgan Stanley upgraded Sempra from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and increased their price objective for the stock from $85.00 to $98.00 in a report on Friday, December 13th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on Sempra from $87.00 to $96.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 7th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating and ten have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $91.60.

Sempra Stock Performance

Shares of SRE stock opened at $82.78 on Monday. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $87.72 and its 200-day moving average price is $84.16. The stock has a market cap of $52.43 billion, a PE ratio of 18.23, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.10 and a beta of 0.78. 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 has a 12 month low of $66.40 and a 12 month high of $95.77.

Sempra (NYSE:SRE) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, November 6th. The utilities provider reported $0.89 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.05 by ($0.16). Sempra had a return on equity of 8.06% and a net margin of 22.63%. The business had revenue of $2.78 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.54 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $1.08 EPS. Sempra’s revenue for the quarter was down 16.7% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts expect that Sempra will post 4.77 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Sempra Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, January 15th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, December 5th were issued a $0.62 dividend. This represents a $2.48 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.00%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, December 5th. Sempra’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 54.63%.

About Sempra

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.