Corient Private Wealth LLC Has $54.90 Million Stock Position in Sempra (NYSE:SRE)

Corient Private Wealth LLC lowered its position in Sempra (NYSE:SRE) by 3.3% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 625,852 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 21,094 shares during the period. Corient Private Wealth LLC’s holdings in Sempra were worth $54,896,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Crews Bank & Trust acquired a new stake in Sempra during the fourth quarter worth $26,000. Synergy Investment Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Sempra during the 4th quarter worth about $29,000. Human Investing LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Sempra during the 4th quarter valued at about $31,000. ST Germain D J Co. Inc. increased its stake in Sempra by 225.6% in the fourth quarter. ST Germain D J Co. Inc. now owns 433 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $38,000 after acquiring an additional 300 shares during the period. Finally, LRI Investments LLC raised its position in Sempra by 180.4% in the third quarter. LRI Investments LLC now owns 443 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $40,000 after purchasing an additional 285 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 89.65% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO Jeffrey W. Martin sold 49,737 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, January 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $82.94, for a total value of $4,125,186.78. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 2 shares in the company, valued at approximately $165.88. This represents a 100.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, Director Michael N. Mears bought 1,000 shares of Sempra stock in a transaction on Monday, March 10th. The shares were bought at an average price of $67.70 per share, for a total transaction of $67,700.00. Following the acquisition, the director now owns 5,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $338,500. The trade was a 25.00 % increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Insiders acquired a total of 6,719 shares of company stock valued at $467,180 over the last ninety days. Insiders own 0.27% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts have weighed in on SRE shares. Morgan Stanley decreased their price objective on Sempra from $100.00 to $85.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, February 26th. Barclays cut 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 research report on Thursday, February 27th. Guggenheim cut their price objective on 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 target price on shares of Sempra from $92.00 to $78.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, March 4th. Finally, UBS Group cut shares of Sempra from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and decreased their price objective for the stock from $95.00 to $78.00 in a research note on Wednesday, February 26th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Sempra has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $81.50.

Sempra Stock Performance

Shares of Sempra stock opened at $70.30 on Monday. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $79.57 and a 200 day simple moving average of $84.00. Sempra has a fifty-two week low of $64.89 and a fifty-two week high of $95.77. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.89, a current ratio of 0.52 and a quick ratio of 0.47. The firm has a market cap of $45.80 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.48, a P/E/G ratio of 2.19 and a beta of 0.76.

Sempra (NYSE:SRE) last released its earnings results 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. The company had revenue of $3.76 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.73 billion. Sempra had a return on equity of 8.06% and a net margin of 22.63%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 7.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $1.13 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts predict that Sempra will post 4.76 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Sempra Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 15th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, March 20th will be given a dividend of $0.645 per share. This is a boost from Sempra’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.62. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, March 20th. This represents a $2.58 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.67%. Sempra’s payout ratio is currently 58.37%.

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.