Metis Global Partners LLC Raises Stock Position in Sempra (NYSE:SRE)

Metis Global Partners LLC lifted its stake in Sempra (NYSE:SRE) by 5.0% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 47,514 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 2,275 shares during the period. Metis Global Partners LLC’s holdings in Sempra were worth $4,168,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. FMR LLC lifted its holdings in Sempra by 9.1% in 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 during the period. State Street Corp lifted its stake 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 valued at $2,774,974,000 after purchasing an additional 1,539,026 shares during the period. National Bank of Canada FI boosted its position in shares of Sempra by 201.2% during the third quarter. National Bank of Canada FI now owns 620,394 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $51,882,000 after purchasing an additional 414,406 shares in the last quarter. Unigestion Holding SA purchased a new stake in Sempra in the third quarter worth $33,023,000. Finally, Bank of Montreal Can grew its stake 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 worth $118,219,000 after purchasing an additional 393,277 shares during the period. 89.65% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts have recently commented on SRE shares. Guggenheim dropped their target price on shares of Sempra from $95.00 to $87.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday. Mizuho dropped their price objective on shares of Sempra from $92.00 to $76.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday. Evercore ISI raised their target price on shares of Sempra from $84.00 to $88.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 7th. Barclays cut Sempra from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and dropped their price target for the stock from $95.00 to $72.00 in a research report on Thursday. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group downgraded 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 research note on Wednesday. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Sempra currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $84.54.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Sempra news, CEO Jeffrey W. Martin sold 49,737 shares of the 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 transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 2 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $165.88. This represents a 100.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, SVP Alexander Lisa Larroque sold 2,755 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $81.93, for a total value of $225,717.15. Following the sale, the senior vice president now owns 13,905 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,139,236.65. This represents a 16.54 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.24% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Sempra Stock Down 0.6 %

SRE stock opened at $71.50 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $45.29 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.75, a P/E/G ratio of 2.19 and a beta of 0.78. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.89, a current ratio of 0.52 and a quick ratio of 0.47. Sempra has a 1-year low of $64.89 and a 1-year high of $95.77. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $83.13 and a 200-day moving average price of $84.75.

Sempra (NYSE:SRE) last issued 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 business had revenue of $3.76 billion during 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%. Sempra’s revenue was up 7.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $1.13 EPS. Equities analysts forecast that Sempra will post 4.76 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Sempra Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 15th. Investors of record on Thursday, March 20th will be issued a $0.645 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, March 20th. This represents a $2.58 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.61%. This is a boost from Sempra’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.62. Sempra’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 56.11%.

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.