M&T Bank Corp Raises Stock Position in Sempra (NYSE:SRE)

M&T Bank Corp boosted its holdings in Sempra (NYSE:SRE) by 14.0% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 43,217 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 5,305 shares during the quarter. M&T Bank Corp’s holdings in Sempra were worth $3,791,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of SRE. FMR LLC increased its stake in Sempra by 9.1% in the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 18,978,605 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,587,181,000 after buying an additional 1,582,653 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp boosted its holdings in shares of Sempra by 4.9% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 32,940,620 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $2,774,974,000 after purchasing an additional 1,539,026 shares during the last quarter. National Bank of Canada FI boosted its holdings in shares of Sempra by 201.2% during the 3rd 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 last quarter. Unigestion Holding SA bought a new position in shares of Sempra during the 3rd quarter valued at about $33,023,000. Finally, Bank of Montreal Can boosted its holdings in shares of Sempra by 38.3% during the 3rd quarter. Bank of Montreal Can now owns 1,420,045 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $118,219,000 after purchasing an additional 393,277 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 89.65% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

SRE has been the subject of several research reports. The Goldman Sachs Group downgraded shares of Sempra from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and dropped their price objective for the company from $99.00 to $76.00 in a report on Wednesday, February 26th. Guggenheim dropped their price objective on shares of Sempra from $95.00 to $87.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, February 26th. BMO Capital Markets dropped their price objective on shares of Sempra from $92.00 to $78.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, March 4th. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price objective on shares of Sempra from $96.00 to $88.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, February 26th. Finally, Barclays downgraded shares of Sempra from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and lowered their price target for the company from $95.00 to $72.00 in a report on Thursday, February 27th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Sempra currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $81.50.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, SVP Alexander Lisa Larroque sold 2,755 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $81.93, for a total value of $225,717.15. Following the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 13,905 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,139,236.65. This represents a 16.54 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Jeffrey W. Martin sold 49,737 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, January 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $82.94, for a total transaction of $4,125,186.78. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2 shares in the company, valued at approximately $165.88. This trade represents a 100.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.24% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Sempra Stock Down 0.6 %

Shares of NYSE:SRE opened at $69.23 on Friday. 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 $64.89 and a 12 month high of $95.77. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $81.42 and a 200 day moving average price of $84.42. The company has a market cap of $45.10 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.25, a PEG ratio of 2.19 and a beta of 0.76.

Sempra (NYSE:SRE) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 25th. The utilities provider reported $1.50 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.47 by $0.03. Sempra had a net margin of 22.63% and a return on equity of 8.06%. The company had revenue of $3.76 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.73 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $1.13 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.6% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Sempra will post 4.76 earnings per share for the current year.

Sempra Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 15th. Investors of record on Thursday, March 20th will be given a $0.645 dividend. This is a positive change from Sempra’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.62. This represents a $2.58 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.73%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, March 20th. Sempra’s dividend payout ratio is 58.37%.

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.