Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd Raises Stock Holdings in Sempra (NYSE:SRE)

Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd raised its position in shares of Sempra (NYSE:SRE) by 5.4% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 82,223 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 4,225 shares during the period. Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd’s holdings in Sempra were worth $7,213,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of SRE. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. lifted its position in Sempra by 1.2% during the 4th quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. now owns 1,463,474 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $128,376,000 after acquiring an additional 17,507 shares during the period. Strategic Financial Concepts LLC purchased a new position in shares of Sempra during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $1,300,000. Buck Wealth Strategies LLC bought a new stake in shares of Sempra in the 4th quarter worth approximately $4,477,000. Bleakley Financial Group LLC grew its stake in shares of Sempra by 9.8% in the 4th quarter. Bleakley Financial Group LLC now owns 11,367 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $997,000 after buying an additional 1,012 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Vision Capital Management Inc. bought a new position in Sempra during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $208,000. Institutional investors own 89.65% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO Jeffrey W. Martin sold 49,737 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, January 30th. The shares were 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 in the company, valued at $165.88. This represents a 100.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, VP Trevor I. Mihalik sold 23,713 shares of the business’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 transaction of $2,207,443.17. Following the sale, the vice president now owns 11,190 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,041,677.10. This trade represents a 67.94 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 0.27% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms have commented on SRE. Evercore ISI boosted their target price on Sempra from $84.00 to $88.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, November 7th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on shares of Sempra from $87.00 to $96.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 7th. Barclays reduced their price objective on shares of Sempra from $99.00 to $95.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, January 27th. Morgan Stanley upgraded shares of Sempra from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and increased their price target for the company from $85.00 to $98.00 in a report on Friday, December 13th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group started coverage on shares of Sempra in a research report on Thursday, October 24th. They set a “buy” rating and a $98.00 price target for the company. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating and ten have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $91.20.

Sempra Trading Down 0.2 %

Shares of SRE stock opened at $81.94 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $51.90 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.05, a P/E/G ratio of 2.11 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 firm’s 50 day moving average is $85.64 and its 200 day moving average is $84.44. Sempra has a 12-month low of $66.40 and a 12-month high of $95.77.

Sempra (NYSE:SRE) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, November 6th. The utilities provider reported $0.89 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.05 by ($0.16). Sempra had a return on equity of 8.06% and a net margin of 22.63%. The firm 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 firm earned $1.08 EPS. The business’s revenue was down 16.7% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts expect that Sempra will post 4.77 earnings per share for the current year.

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.