Burford Brothers Inc. Has $776,000 Stock Holdings in Sempra (NYSE:SRE)

Burford Brothers Inc. reduced its position in Sempra (NYSE:SRE) by 11.2% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 8,845 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 1,112 shares during the period. Burford Brothers Inc.’s holdings in Sempra were worth $776,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. FMR LLC grew its holdings in Sempra by 9.1% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 18,978,605 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,587,181,000 after acquiring an additional 1,582,653 shares during the period. State Street Corp boosted its position in shares of Sempra by 4.9% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 32,940,620 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $2,774,974,000 after purchasing an additional 1,539,026 shares during the last quarter. National Bank of Canada FI boosted its position 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 purchasing an additional 414,406 shares during the last quarter. Unigestion Holding SA acquired a new stake in shares of Sempra during the third quarter worth $33,023,000. Finally, Bank of Montreal Can increased its holdings in Sempra by 38.3% in the third 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. Institutional investors own 89.65% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research analysts recently issued reports on SRE shares. Morgan Stanley upgraded shares of Sempra from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and boosted their price objective for the company from $85.00 to $98.00 in a report on Friday, December 13th. Jefferies Financial Group began coverage on shares of Sempra in a report on Thursday, October 24th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $98.00 price target for the company. Evercore ISI raised their price objective on Sempra from $84.00 to $88.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 7th. Barclays decreased their target price on Sempra from $99.00 to $95.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, January 27th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets raised their price target on Sempra from $93.00 to $96.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, October 21st. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating and ten have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $91.20.

Sempra Trading Down 0.5 %

Shares of NYSE:SRE opened at $82.87 on Monday. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $86.60 and a 200 day simple moving average of $84.37. The company has a market capitalization of $52.49 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.25, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.11 and a beta of 0.78. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.89, a quick ratio of 0.47 and a current ratio of 0.52. Sempra has a 52-week low of $66.40 and a 52-week high of $95.77.

Sempra (NYSE:SRE) last issued its 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). Sempra had a return on equity of 8.06% and a net margin of 22.63%. The business had revenue of $2.78 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.54 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $1.08 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was down 16.7% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts forecast that Sempra will post 4.77 earnings per share for the current year.

Sempra Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, January 15th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, December 5th were given a $0.62 dividend. This represents a $2.48 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 2.99%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, December 5th. Sempra’s payout ratio is presently 54.63%.

Insider Transactions at Sempra

In related news, CEO Jeffrey W. Martin sold 49,737 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on 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 directly owns 2 shares in the company, valued at $165.88. The trade was a 100.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, VP Trevor I. Mihalik sold 23,713 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, November 20th. The stock was 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. The trade was a 67.94 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.27% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.