SOL Capital Management CO Has $325,000 Stock Holdings in Sempra (NYSE:SRE)

SOL Capital Management CO lifted its holdings in shares of Sempra (NYSE:SRE) by 5.9% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 3,702 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after buying an additional 205 shares during the period. SOL Capital Management CO’s holdings in Sempra were worth $325,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other large investors have also bought and sold shares of SRE. FMR LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Sempra by 9.1% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 18,978,605 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,587,181,000 after acquiring an additional 1,582,653 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp boosted its position in Sempra by 4.9% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 32,940,620 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $2,774,974,000 after buying an additional 1,539,026 shares in the last quarter. National Bank of Canada FI grew its stake in shares of Sempra by 201.2% during the third quarter. National Bank of Canada FI now owns 620,394 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $51,882,000 after buying an additional 414,406 shares during the last quarter. Unigestion Holding SA acquired a new position in shares of Sempra during the third quarter worth $33,023,000. Finally, Bank of Montreal Can lifted its stake in shares of Sempra by 38.3% in the 3rd quarter. Bank of Montreal Can now owns 1,420,045 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $118,219,000 after acquiring an additional 393,277 shares during the last quarter. 89.65% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts have issued reports on the company. Jefferies Financial Group started coverage on Sempra in a report on Thursday, October 24th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $98.00 target price for the company. BMO Capital Markets upped their price objective 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 upgraded shares of Sempra from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and lifted their target price for the stock from $85.00 to $98.00 in a research report on Friday, December 13th. Barclays dropped their price target 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. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price target on shares of Sempra from $87.00 to $96.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, November 7th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $91.20.

Sempra Stock Performance

Shares of Sempra stock opened at $82.87 on Friday. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $86.83 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $84.26. Sempra has a 1-year low of $66.40 and a 1-year high of $95.77. 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 company has a market cap of $52.49 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.25, a PEG ratio of 2.08 and a beta of 0.78.

Sempra (NYSE:SRE) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, November 6th. The utilities provider reported $0.89 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.05 by ($0.16). Sempra had a return on equity of 8.06% and a net margin of 22.63%. The business had revenue of $2.78 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.54 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $1.08 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 16.7% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts anticipate that Sempra will post 4.77 EPS for the current year.

Sempra Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, January 15th. Investors of record on Thursday, December 5th were paid a dividend of $0.62 per share. This represents a $2.48 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.99%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, December 5th. Sempra’s dividend payout ratio is presently 54.63%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, VP Trevor I. Mihalik sold 23,713 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, November 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $93.09, for a total value 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 $1,041,677.10. The trade was a 67.94 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO Jeffrey W. Martin sold 49,737 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2 shares in the company, valued at approximately $165.88. This trade represents a 100.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 0.24% of the company’s stock.

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.