Nisa Investment Advisors LLC Grows Position in Sempra (NYSE:SRE)

Nisa Investment Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of Sempra (NYSE:SRE) by 0.5% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 249,785 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,249 shares during the period. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC’s holdings in Sempra were worth $22,065,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the stock. FMR LLC boosted its holdings in Sempra by 9.1% during the third 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 lifted its position 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 acquiring an additional 1,539,026 shares during the period. Clearbridge Investments LLC boosted its stake in shares of Sempra by 6.9% during the 2nd quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC now owns 13,452,912 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,023,228,000 after acquiring an additional 874,133 shares in the last quarter. National Bank of Canada FI grew its holdings in shares of Sempra by 201.2% in the 3rd quarter. National Bank of Canada FI now owns 620,394 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $51,882,000 after acquiring an additional 414,406 shares during the period. Finally, Unigestion Holding SA purchased a new position in Sempra in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $33,023,000. 89.65% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity at Sempra

In other Sempra news, VP Trevor I. Mihalik sold 23,713 shares of Sempra stock in a transaction on 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 transaction, the vice president now owns 11,190 shares in the company, valued at $1,041,677.10. This trade represents a 67.94 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. 0.27% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts have commented on the company. Evercore ISI boosted their target price on Sempra from $84.00 to $88.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 7th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on shares of Sempra from $87.00 to $96.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 7th. Morgan Stanley upgraded shares of Sempra from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and lifted their target price for the stock from $85.00 to $98.00 in a research report on Friday, December 13th. BMO Capital Markets increased their price target on shares of Sempra from $93.00 to $96.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, October 21st. Finally, Barclays lifted their price objective on Sempra from $89.00 to $99.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, December 2nd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $91.60.

Sempra Stock Down 4.2 %

SRE stock opened at $82.86 on Thursday. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $88.25 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $84.06. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.89, a quick ratio of 0.47 and a current ratio of 0.52. The stock has a market capitalization of $52.48 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.25, a PEG ratio of 2.16 and a beta of 0.78. Sempra has a one year low of $66.40 and a one year high of $95.77.

Sempra (NYSE:SRE) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, November 6th. The utilities provider reported $0.89 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.05 by ($0.16). Sempra had a net margin of 22.63% and a return on equity of 8.06%. The business had revenue of $2.78 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.54 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $1.08 EPS. Sempra’s revenue for the quarter was down 16.7% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Sempra will post 4.77 EPS for the current year.

Sempra Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, January 15th. Investors of record on Thursday, December 5th were given a $0.62 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, December 5th. This represents a $2.48 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.99%. Sempra’s dividend payout ratio is presently 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.