Union Bancaire Privee UBP SA Acquires Shares of 355,959 Sempra (NYSE:SRE)

Union Bancaire Privee UBP SA bought a new position in shares of Sempra (NYSE:SRE) in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund bought 355,959 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $29,880,000.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Private Advisor Group LLC raised its holdings in shares of Sempra by 1.6% in the third quarter. Private Advisor Group LLC now owns 8,742 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $731,000 after purchasing an additional 139 shares during the last quarter. LVM Capital Management Ltd. MI increased its stake in Sempra by 2.4% in the 4th quarter. LVM Capital Management Ltd. MI now owns 6,677 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $586,000 after buying an additional 155 shares during the last quarter. Kingsview Wealth Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Sempra by 0.3% during the 3rd quarter. Kingsview Wealth Management LLC now owns 46,518 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $3,890,000 after buying an additional 158 shares in the last quarter. CX Institutional boosted its stake in shares of Sempra by 5.5% in the 3rd quarter. CX Institutional now owns 3,083 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $258,000 after buying an additional 161 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Rosenberg Matthew Hamilton grew its holdings in shares of Sempra by 4.2% in the third quarter. Rosenberg Matthew Hamilton now owns 4,031 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $337,000 after acquiring an additional 163 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 89.65% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Sempra

In related news, VP Trevor I. Mihalik sold 23,713 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 directly owns 11,190 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,041,677.10. This represents a 67.94 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Insiders own 0.24% of the company’s stock.

Sempra Stock Down 0.0 %

SRE opened at $82.78 on Monday. Sempra has a 12 month low of $66.40 and a 12 month high of $95.77. The company has a market cap of $52.43 billion, a PE ratio of 18.23, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.10 and a beta of 0.78. The company has a current ratio of 0.52, a quick ratio of 0.47 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.89. The company has a 50 day moving average of $87.72 and a 200 day moving average of $84.16.

Sempra (NYSE:SRE) last posted its quarterly earnings results 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 return on equity of 8.06% and a net margin of 22.63%. The company had revenue of $2.78 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.54 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $1.08 earnings per share. Sempra’s revenue was down 16.7% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Sempra will post 4.77 EPS for the current year.

Sempra Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, January 15th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, December 5th were given a dividend of $0.62 per share. This represents a $2.48 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.00%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, December 5th. Sempra’s dividend payout ratio is presently 54.63%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

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

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.