Cbre Investment Management Listed Real Assets LLC Raises Stock Holdings in Sempra (NYSE:SRE)

Cbre Investment Management Listed Real Assets LLC increased its stake in shares of Sempra (NYSE:SRE - Free Report) by 8.5% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 609,477 shares of the utilities provider's stock after buying an additional 47,554 shares during the period. Cbre Investment Management Listed Real Assets LLC owned about 0.10% of Sempra worth $53,463,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in SRE. Farther Finance Advisors LLC increased its holdings in Sempra by 9.4% during the third quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 6,666 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $557,000 after buying an additional 572 shares during the last quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC increased its holdings in Sempra by 4.0% during the third quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC now owns 276,948 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $23,161,000 after buying an additional 10,720 shares during the last quarter. Confluence Wealth Services Inc. purchased a new stake in Sempra during the third quarter worth about $211,000. Van ECK Associates Corp increased its holdings in Sempra by 6.6% during the third quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 181,324 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $15,586,000 after buying an additional 11,270 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Intact Investment Management Inc. boosted its position in Sempra by 9.3% during the third quarter. Intact Investment Management Inc. now owns 61,400 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $5,135,000 after purchasing an additional 5,200 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 89.65% of the company's stock.

Remove Ads

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts have weighed in on SRE shares. Mizuho cut their target price on shares of Sempra from $92.00 to $76.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, February 26th. Guggenheim cut 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. Wells Fargo & Company cut their target price on shares of Sempra from $96.00 to $88.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, February 26th. The Goldman Sachs Group lowered shares of Sempra from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating and cut their target price for the stock from $99.00 to $76.00 in a research report on Wednesday, February 26th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets cut their target price on shares of Sempra from $92.00 to $78.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $81.50.

Insider Buying and Selling at Sempra

In other Sempra news, SVP Alexander Lisa Larroque sold 2,755 shares of Sempra stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $81.93, for a total transaction of $225,717.15. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 13,905 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $1,139,236.65. This trade represents a 16.54 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Jeffrey W. Martin sold 49,737 shares of Sempra stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, January 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $82.94, for a total transaction of $4,125,186.78. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2 shares in the company, valued at $165.88. This trade represents a 100.00 % 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 company insiders.

Sempra Price Performance

Shares of SRE stock traded down $0.39 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $69.23. The stock had a trading volume of 5,948,281 shares, compared to its average volume of 5,561,125. The stock's fifty day simple moving average is $81.42 and its 200 day simple moving average is $84.39. The company has a current ratio of 0.52, a quick ratio of 0.47 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.89. Sempra has a 12 month low of $64.89 and a 12 month high of $95.77. The firm has a market capitalization of $45.10 billion, a PE ratio of 15.25, a PEG ratio of 2.19 and a beta of 0.76.

Sempra (NYSE:SRE - Get Free Report) last announced 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. Sempra had a net margin of 22.63% and a return on equity of 8.06%. The business had revenue of $3.76 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.73 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $1.13 earnings per share. Sempra's revenue for the quarter was up 7.6% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts predict that Sempra will post 4.76 EPS for the current year.

Sempra Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 15th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, March 20th will be given a dividend of $0.645 per share. 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 yield of 3.73%. Sempra's payout ratio is presently 58.37%.

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.