Commonwealth Equity Services LLC Sells 1,192 Shares of Sempra (NYSE:SRE)

Commonwealth Equity Services LLC reduced its stake in Sempra (NYSE:SRE) by 1.0% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 122,593 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 1,192 shares during the period. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC’s holdings in Sempra were worth $10,754,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

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

Sempra Stock Down 0.4 %

Sempra stock opened at $70.74 on Wednesday. Sempra has a twelve month low of $64.89 and a twelve month high of $95.77. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $79.04 and a 200-day moving average price of $83.84. The company has a market capitalization of $46.09 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.58, a P/E/G ratio of 2.19 and a beta of 0.76. 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 (NYSE:SRE) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, February 25th. The utilities provider reported $1.50 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.47 by $0.03. The firm had revenue of $3.76 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.73 billion. Sempra had a return on equity of 8.06% and a net margin of 22.63%. The business’s revenue was up 7.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $1.13 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts predict that Sempra will post 4.76 EPS for the current year.

Sempra Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 15th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, March 20th will be paid a $0.645 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, March 20th. This is a positive change from Sempra’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.62. This represents a $2.58 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.65%. Sempra’s payout ratio is presently 58.37%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Sempra

In other Sempra 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 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 ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, SVP Alexander Lisa Larroque sold 2,755 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $81.93, for a total value of $225,717.15. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 13,905 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,139,236.65. The trade was a 16.54 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have bought a total of 9,319 shares of company stock worth $651,676 over the last ninety days. 0.24% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms have recently commented on SRE. Guggenheim decreased their target price on shares of Sempra from $95.00 to $87.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, February 26th. Jefferies Financial Group reissued a “hold” rating and set a $77.00 target price (down from $96.00) on shares of Sempra in a research report on Monday, March 3rd. Barclays downgraded shares of Sempra from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and decreased their target price for the stock from $95.00 to $72.00 in a research report on Thursday, February 27th. UBS Group downgraded shares of Sempra from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and decreased their target price for the stock from $95.00 to $78.00 in a research report on Wednesday, February 26th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group cut shares of Sempra from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and cut their price target for the stock from $99.00 to $76.00 in a report on Wednesday, February 26th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $81.50.

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.