Sempra (NYSE:SRE) Shares Acquired by Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc.

Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Sempra (NYSE:SRE) by 1.2% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 1,463,474 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 17,507 shares during the period. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. owned approximately 0.23% of Sempra worth $128,376,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in SRE. Private Advisor Group LLC raised its stake in Sempra by 1.6% in the third quarter. Private Advisor Group LLC now owns 8,742 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $731,000 after buying an additional 139 shares during the last quarter. LVM Capital Management Ltd. MI raised its position in shares of Sempra by 2.4% in the 4th quarter. LVM Capital Management Ltd. MI now owns 6,677 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $586,000 after purchasing an additional 155 shares during the last quarter. Kingsview Wealth Management LLC boosted its stake in Sempra by 0.3% in the 3rd quarter. Kingsview Wealth Management LLC now owns 46,518 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $3,890,000 after purchasing an additional 158 shares in the last quarter. CX Institutional grew its position in Sempra by 5.5% during the 3rd quarter. CX Institutional now owns 3,083 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $258,000 after purchasing an additional 161 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Rosenberg Matthew Hamilton increased its stake in Sempra by 4.2% during the 3rd quarter. Rosenberg Matthew Hamilton now owns 4,031 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $337,000 after purchasing an additional 163 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 89.65% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Sempra

In other news, CEO Jeffrey W. Martin sold 49,737 shares of Sempra stock in a transaction dated 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 sale, the chief executive officer now owns 2 shares in the company, valued at $165.88. This trade represents a 100.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, VP Trevor I. Mihalik sold 23,713 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, November 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $93.09, for a total transaction of $2,207,443.17. Following the transaction, the vice president now owns 11,190 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,041,677.10. This trade represents a 67.94 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.27% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms have recently commented on SRE. Barclays lowered 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. Evercore ISI boosted their price target on Sempra from $84.00 to $88.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 7th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on Sempra from $87.00 to $96.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 7th. Morgan Stanley upgraded Sempra from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and upped their target price for the company from $85.00 to $98.00 in a research 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 investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Sempra has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $91.20.

Sempra Stock Performance

SRE opened at $81.94 on Friday. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $85.64 and a 200 day moving average price of $84.44. Sempra has a 1 year low of $66.40 and a 1 year high of $95.77. The stock has a market cap 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 debt-to-equity ratio of 0.89, a current ratio of 0.52 and a quick ratio of 0.47.

Sempra (NYSE:SRE) last issued its quarterly earnings data 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 firm had revenue of $2.78 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.54 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $1.08 EPS. The company’s revenue was down 16.7% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts anticipate that Sempra will post 4.77 earnings per share for the current year.

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.