Point72 Asia Singapore Pte. Ltd. Cuts Stake in Sempra (NYSE:SRE)

Point72 Asia Singapore Pte. Ltd. cut its holdings in Sempra (NYSE:SRE) by 50.0% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 1,304 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 1,306 shares during the period. Point72 Asia Singapore Pte. Ltd.’s holdings in Sempra were worth $109,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Eastern Bank bought a new position in shares of Sempra during the 3rd quarter valued at about $28,000. Family Firm Inc. bought a new position in Sempra during the second quarter valued at approximately $30,000. Hollencrest Capital Management grew its holdings in Sempra by 250.0% during the 3rd quarter. Hollencrest Capital Management now owns 378 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $32,000 after buying an additional 270 shares in the last quarter. Ashton Thomas Private Wealth LLC bought a new stake in Sempra in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $33,000. Finally, Financial Connections Group Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Sempra during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $34,000. 89.65% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Sempra news, VP Trevor I. Mihalik sold 23,713 shares of the stock in a transaction dated 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 transaction, the vice president now directly owns 11,190 shares in the company, valued at $1,041,677.10. This represents a 67.94 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. 0.24% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price target on shares of Sempra from $87.00 to $96.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 7th. Barclays boosted their target price on shares of Sempra from $89.00 to $99.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday. Evercore ISI increased their price target on shares of Sempra from $84.00 to $88.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, November 7th. BMO Capital Markets boosted their price objective on Sempra from $93.00 to $96.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, October 21st. Finally, Morgan Stanley raised their price objective on Sempra from $80.00 to $85.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, September 25th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has given a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Sempra presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $89.91.

Sempra Stock Performance

Shares of Sempra stock opened at $90.94 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.47, a current ratio of 0.52 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.89. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $87.44 and its two-hundred day moving average is $81.66. Sempra has a 52 week low of $66.40 and a 52 week high of $95.77. The company has a market capitalization of $57.60 billion, a PE ratio of 20.03, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.52 and a beta of 0.77.

Sempra (NYSE:SRE) last posted 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). The company had revenue of $2.78 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.54 billion. Sempra had a return on equity of 8.06% and a net margin of 22.63%. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 16.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $1.08 EPS. As a group, analysts expect that Sempra will post 4.77 earnings per share for the current year.

Sempra Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, January 15th. Investors of record on Thursday, December 5th will be issued a $0.62 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, December 5th. This represents a $2.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.73%. Sempra’s payout ratio 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.