Sempra (NYSE:SRE) Shares Sold by Huntington National Bank

Huntington National Bank cut its position in shares of Sempra (NYSE:SRE) by 1.0% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 75,848 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 728 shares during the period. Huntington National Bank’s holdings in Sempra were worth $6,653,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of Sempra in the fourth quarter valued at $1,535,000,000. Wellington Management Group LLP grew its stake in Sempra by 11.9% in the 4th quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 38,407,154 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $3,369,076,000 after acquiring an additional 4,082,261 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp grew its stake in 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 acquiring an additional 1,539,026 shares during the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new position in Sempra during the 4th quarter valued at about $123,614,000. Finally, KLP Kapitalforvaltning AS acquired a new position in Sempra during the fourth quarter worth about $43,956,000. 89.65% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Sempra Stock Up 1.9 %

Shares of NYSE:SRE opened at $72.93 on Thursday. Sempra has a 1 year low of $64.89 and a 1 year high of $95.77. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $76.45 and a 200-day simple moving average of $82.92. 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 stock has a market capitalization of $47.51 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.06, a PEG ratio of 2.19 and a beta of 0.76.

Sempra (NYSE:SRE) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 25th. The utilities provider reported $1.50 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping 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 company had revenue of $3.76 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.73 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $1.13 earnings per share. Sempra’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.6% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts forecast that Sempra will post 4.76 earnings per share for the current year.

Sempra Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 15th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, March 20th will be paid a dividend of $0.645 per share. This represents a $2.58 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.54%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, March 20th. This is a boost from Sempra’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.62. Sempra’s payout ratio is currently 58.37%.

Insider Transactions at Sempra

In other Sempra news, Director Cynthia J. Warner bought 700 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 6th. The stock was bought at an average cost of $70.65 per share, for a total transaction of $49,455.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the director now directly owns 8,759 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $618,823.35. The trade was a 8.69 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CEO Jeffrey W. Martin sold 49,737 shares of Sempra 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 sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2 shares in the company, valued at approximately $165.88. The trade was a 100.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders purchased 9,319 shares of company stock valued at $651,676 and sold 57,309 shares valued at $4,694,019. Company insiders own 0.24% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have recently commented on SRE. Jefferies Financial Group reiterated a “hold” rating and issued a $77.00 price target (down from $96.00) on shares of Sempra in a research report on Monday, March 3rd. BMO Capital Markets dropped their price target on Sempra from $92.00 to $78.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, March 4th. Argus cut Sempra from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 18th. UBS Group downgraded Sempra from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and reduced their price objective for the company from $95.00 to $78.00 in a research report on Wednesday, February 26th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group cut Sempra from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and dropped their price objective for the stock from $99.00 to $76.00 in a research report on Wednesday, February 26th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $81.33.

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.