Sempra (NYSE:SRE) Shares Purchased by Franklin Resources Inc.

Franklin Resources Inc. raised its position in shares of Sempra (NYSE:SRE - Free Report) by 1.7% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 7,695,988 shares of the utilities provider's stock after buying an additional 129,891 shares during the quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. owned about 1.22% of Sempra worth $639,921,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Unigestion Holding SA bought a new stake in shares of Sempra in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $33,023,000. Dai ichi Life Insurance Company Ltd lifted its position in Sempra by 319.5% in the second quarter. Dai ichi Life Insurance Company Ltd now owns 196,954 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $14,980,000 after buying an additional 150,000 shares during the last quarter. TCW Group Inc. boosted its stake in Sempra by 28.2% during the second quarter. TCW Group Inc. now owns 67,765 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $5,154,000 after buying an additional 14,890 shares during the period. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. increased its position in Sempra by 1.9% during the third quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 357,107 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $29,865,000 after acquiring an additional 6,709 shares during the last quarter. Finally, CIBC Asset Management Inc raised its stake in shares of Sempra by 7.2% in the third quarter. CIBC Asset Management Inc now owns 107,800 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $9,015,000 after acquiring an additional 7,198 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 89.65% of the company's stock.

Sempra Stock Up 1.4 %

Sempra stock traded up $1.23 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $89.16. 2,766,672 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,932,512. Sempra has a 12 month low of $66.40 and a 12 month high of $95.77. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.89, a quick ratio of 0.47 and a current ratio of 0.52. The company has a market cap of $56.47 billion, a PE ratio of 19.64, a P/E/G ratio of 2.40 and a beta of 0.77. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $88.08 and a two-hundred day moving average of $82.15.

Sempra (NYSE:SRE - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, November 6th. The utilities provider reported $0.89 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.05 by ($0.16). The business had revenue of $2.78 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $3.54 billion. Sempra had a net margin of 22.63% and a return on equity of 8.06%. The business's quarterly revenue was down 16.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $1.08 earnings per share. As a group, analysts expect that Sempra will post 4.76 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Sempra Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, January 15th. Investors of record on Thursday, December 5th will be given a dividend of $0.62 per share. This represents a $2.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.78%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, December 5th. Sempra's payout ratio is currently 54.63%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts recently commented on SRE shares. Jefferies Financial Group assumed coverage on shares of Sempra in a report on Thursday, October 24th. They set a "buy" rating and a $98.00 price target on the stock. BMO Capital Markets upped their target price on Sempra from $93.00 to $96.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research note on Monday, October 21st. Morgan Stanley raised Sempra from an "equal weight" rating to an "overweight" rating and raised their price target for the stock from $85.00 to $98.00 in a research note on Friday. Barclays upped their price objective on Sempra from $89.00 to $99.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Monday, December 2nd. Finally, Bank of America assumed coverage on shares of Sempra in a research note on Thursday, September 12th. They set a "buy" rating and a $94.00 target price for the company. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating and ten have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $91.60.

Insider Buying and Selling at Sempra

In other Sempra news, VP Trevor I. Mihalik sold 23,713 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, November 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $93.09, for a total transaction of $2,207,443.17. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now directly owns 11,190 shares of the company's stock, 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 filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. 0.24% of the stock is owned by 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.