RNC Capital Management LLC Reduces Position in Sempra (NYSE:SRE)

RNC Capital Management LLC lessened its holdings in shares of Sempra (NYSE:SRE) by 0.6% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 563,795 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 3,310 shares during the quarter. Sempra makes up 2.5% of RNC Capital Management LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 19th largest holding. RNC Capital Management LLC owned 0.09% of Sempra worth $42,132,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the business. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Sempra by 101.8% during the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 62,117,948 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $4,225,884,000 after acquiring an additional 31,334,782 shares during the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its stake in shares of Sempra by 101.4% during the 3rd quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 24,206,231 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,646,750,000 after acquiring an additional 12,184,568 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp boosted its stake in shares of Sempra by 0.5% during the 2nd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 17,502,896 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $2,548,247,000 after acquiring an additional 83,368 shares during the last quarter. Newport Trust Company LLC boosted its stake in shares of Sempra by 104.0% during the 3rd quarter. Newport Trust Company LLC now owns 14,416,527 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $980,756,000 after acquiring an additional 7,348,746 shares during the last quarter. Finally, FMR LLC boosted its stake in shares of Sempra by 147.0% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 14,360,225 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $976,926,000 after acquiring an additional 8,546,205 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 89.65% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

SRE has been the topic of several analyst reports. StockNews.com cut shares of Sempra from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 20th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upgraded shares of Sempra from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and lifted their target price for the company from $78.00 to $86.00 in a research note on Tuesday, December 12th. Royal Bank of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and set a $82.00 target price on shares of Sempra in a research note on Wednesday, March 6th. BMO Capital Markets upgraded shares of Sempra from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and lifted their target price for the company from $76.00 to $84.00 in a research note on Thursday, January 11th. Finally, Morgan Stanley lifted their target price on shares of Sempra from $74.00 to $75.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 21st. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has given a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Sempra currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $82.17.

Insider Transactions at Sempra

In other news, insider Diana L. Day sold 3,937 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $71.21, for a total value of $280,353.77. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 18,145 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,292,105.45. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. In other news, insider Diana L. Day sold 3,937 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $71.21, for a total value of $280,353.77. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 18,145 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,292,105.45. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, VP Trevor I. Mihalik sold 57,571 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $70.59, for a total transaction of $4,063,936.89. Following the transaction, the vice president now owns 10,922 shares in the company, valued at $770,983.98. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 156,622 shares of company stock worth $11,089,713 in the last three months. Insiders own 0.24% of the company’s stock.

Sempra Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE SRE opened at $71.25 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.85, a quick ratio of 0.49 and a current ratio of 0.54. The company has a market cap of $45.04 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.87, a P/E/G ratio of 2.90 and a beta of 0.71. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $70.81 and its two-hundred day moving average is $71.64. Sempra has a 52-week low of $63.75 and a 52-week high of $79.51.

Sempra (NYSE:SRE) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 27th. The utilities provider reported $1.13 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.11 by $0.02. The company had revenue of $3.49 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.01 billion. Sempra had a net margin of 18.26% and a return on equity of 9.45%. Sempra’s revenue for the quarter was up 1.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.17 EPS. As a group, analysts anticipate that Sempra will post 4.82 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Sempra Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, April 15th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, March 21st will be issued a $0.62 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Wednesday, March 20th. This is an increase from Sempra’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.60. This represents a $2.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.48%. Sempra’s payout ratio is 51.77%.

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.