Magellan Asset Management Ltd Trims Stake in Sempra (NYSE:SRE)

Magellan Asset Management Ltd lessened its position in shares of Sempra (NYSE:SRE) by 3.9% during the second quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 1,861,801 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 75,632 shares during the quarter. Sempra accounts for about 2.4% of Magellan Asset Management Ltd’s holdings, making the stock its 18th biggest position. Magellan Asset Management Ltd’s holdings in Sempra were worth $271,060,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Wellington Management Group LLP raised its position in Sempra by 3.4% in the 1st quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 12,450,946 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,882,085,000 after purchasing an additional 404,289 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of Sempra during the fourth quarter worth about $1,000,291,000. FMR LLC increased its position in Sempra by 7.0% in the 1st quarter. FMR LLC now owns 5,705,221 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $862,401,000 after acquiring an additional 375,287 shares during the period. Clearbridge Investments LLC raised its stake in Sempra by 17.5% during the 1st quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC now owns 5,603,494 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $847,024,000 after acquiring an additional 836,059 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Morgan Stanley lifted its position in Sempra by 24.9% during the 4th quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 4,933,253 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $762,385,000 after acquiring an additional 982,317 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 84.83% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts have recently weighed in on SRE shares. Guggenheim lowered their target price on shares of Sempra from $86.00 to $76.00 in a report on Monday, October 9th. Barclays dropped their price objective on Sempra from $78.00 to $76.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, October 24th. Morgan Stanley reduced their target price on Sempra from $75.00 to $73.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price target on shares of Sempra from $82.00 to $78.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, October 17th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada decreased their price objective on shares of Sempra from $91.00 to $82.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, September 6th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Sempra currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $80.85.

Sempra Trading Up 0.2 %

NYSE:SRE traded up $0.12 on Tuesday, reaching $72.55. The stock had a trading volume of 684,732 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,585,044. Sempra has a 12-month low of $63.75 and a 12-month high of $84.13. The company has a market cap of $45.66 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.77, a P/E/G ratio of 3.17 and a beta of 0.74. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $70.29 and its two-hundred day moving average is $71.99. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.86, a current ratio of 0.61 and a quick ratio of 0.55.

Sempra (NYSE:SRE) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Friday, November 3rd. The utilities provider reported $1.08 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.01 by $0.07. The business had revenue of $3.33 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.68 billion. Sempra had a net margin of 16.51% and a return on equity of 9.88%. The company’s revenue was down 7.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $0.99 earnings per share. Equities analysts expect that Sempra will post 4.6 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Sempra Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, January 15th. Stockholders of record on Wednesday, December 6th will be given a $0.595 dividend. This represents a $2.38 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.28%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, December 5th. Sempra’s dividend payout ratio is currently 55.03%.

Sempra Profile

Sempra operates as an energy infrastructure company in the United States and internationally. It operates through four segments: San Diego Gas & Electric Company, Southern California Gas Company, Sempra Texas Utilities, and Sempra Infrastructure. The San Diego Gas & Electric Company segment provides to San Diego and southern Orange counties; and natural gas service to San Diego County.