Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB Purchases New Position in Sempra (NYSE:SRE)

Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB purchased a new stake in Sempra (NYSE:SRE) during the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund purchased 4,548 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $380,000.

Several other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of SRE. Unigestion Holding SA bought a new position in shares of Sempra during the third quarter worth approximately $33,023,000. Dai ichi Life Insurance Company Ltd increased its position in Sempra by 319.5% during the 2nd quarter. Dai ichi Life Insurance Company Ltd now owns 196,954 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $14,980,000 after buying an additional 150,000 shares during the period. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Sempra by 1.9% during the third quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 357,107 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $29,865,000 after buying an additional 6,709 shares in the last quarter. CIBC Asset Management Inc lifted its holdings in shares of Sempra by 7.2% during the third quarter. CIBC Asset Management Inc now owns 107,800 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $9,015,000 after buying an additional 7,198 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Kovitz Investment Group Partners LLC bought a new stake in shares of Sempra in the third quarter valued at about $675,000. 89.65% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts have weighed in on the stock. BMO Capital Markets lifted their price objective on shares of Sempra from $93.00 to $96.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, October 21st. Bank of America started coverage on shares of Sempra in a research report on Thursday, September 12th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $94.00 price target for the company. Barclays increased their price target on Sempra from $89.00 to $99.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, December 2nd. Jefferies Financial Group assumed coverage on Sempra in a report on Thursday, October 24th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $98.00 price objective for the company. Finally, Morgan Stanley raised Sempra from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and increased their target price for the stock from $85.00 to $98.00 in a report on Friday. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $91.60.

Sempra Stock Performance

NYSE:SRE opened at $88.63 on Tuesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $56.14 billion, a PE ratio of 19.52, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.45 and a beta of 0.77. The company has a quick ratio of 0.47, a current ratio of 0.52 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.89. Sempra has a twelve month low of $66.40 and a twelve month high of $95.77. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $88.22 and its 200 day simple moving average is $82.35.

Sempra (NYSE:SRE) last issued its quarterly earnings data 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 the consensus estimate of $3.54 billion. Sempra had a net margin of 22.63% and a return on equity of 8.06%. Sempra’s revenue for the quarter was down 16.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $1.08 EPS. On average, analysts anticipate that Sempra will post 4.76 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Sempra Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, January 15th. Investors of record on Thursday, December 5th will be issued a dividend of $0.62 per share. This represents a $2.48 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.80%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, December 5th. Sempra’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 54.63%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Sempra news, VP Trevor I. Mihalik sold 23,713 shares of the business’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 sale, the vice president now directly owns 11,190 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,041,677.10. The trade was a 67.94 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. 0.24% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Sempra 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.