Sempra (NYSE:SRE) Holdings Lifted by Stock Yards Bank & Trust Co.

Stock Yards Bank & Trust Co. increased its holdings in shares of Sempra (NYSE:SRE) by 1.2% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 20,646 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 242 shares during the quarter. Stock Yards Bank & Trust Co.’s holdings in Sempra were worth $1,543,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of SRE. CWM LLC grew its holdings in shares of Sempra by 97.5% during the third quarter. CWM LLC now owns 12,483 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $849,000 after buying an additional 6,163 shares in the last quarter. AE Wealth Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Sempra by 118.6% during the third quarter. AE Wealth Management LLC now owns 18,796 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,279,000 after buying an additional 10,198 shares in the last quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. grew its stake in Sempra by 119.9% in the third quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. now owns 398 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $27,000 after purchasing an additional 217 shares in the last quarter. IFP Advisors Inc grew its stake in Sempra by 123.5% in the third quarter. IFP Advisors Inc now owns 6,498 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $442,000 after purchasing an additional 3,591 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Global Retirement Partners LLC grew its stake in Sempra by 118.0% in the third quarter. Global Retirement Partners LLC now owns 4,704 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $313,000 after purchasing an additional 2,546 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 89.65% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, VP Trevor I. Mihalik sold 57,571 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $70.59, for a total transaction of $4,063,936.89. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now owns 10,922 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $770,983.98. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. In related news, VP Trevor I. Mihalik sold 57,571 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $70.59, for a total transaction of $4,063,936.89. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now owns 10,922 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $770,983.98. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, insider Diana L. Day sold 3,937 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $71.21, for a total value of $280,353.77. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 18,145 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,292,105.45. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 156,622 shares of company stock valued at $11,089,713. Insiders own 0.27% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts have commented on the company. Barclays boosted their target price on Sempra from $77.00 to $79.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 14th. Morgan Stanley boosted their target price on Sempra from $74.00 to $75.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 21st. StockNews.com downgraded Sempra from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 20th. BMO Capital Markets upgraded Sempra from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and boosted their target price for the company from $76.00 to $84.00 in a research note on Thursday, January 11th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $82.00 target price on shares of Sempra in a research note on Wednesday, March 6th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has assigned a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $82.14.

Sempra Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:SRE opened at $71.13 on Tuesday. Sempra has a fifty-two week low of $63.75 and a fifty-two week high of $79.38. The business has a 50-day moving average of $70.40 and a two-hundred day moving average of $71.63. The stock has a market capitalization of $44.96 billion, a P/E ratio of 14.85, a P/E/G ratio of 2.42 and a beta of 0.71. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.85, a current ratio of 0.54 and a quick ratio of 0.49.

Sempra (NYSE:SRE) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 27th. The utilities provider reported $1.13 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.11 by $0.02. Sempra had a return on equity of 9.45% and a net margin of 18.26%. The business had revenue of $3.49 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.01 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $1.17 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 1.0% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts predict that Sempra will post 4.83 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Sempra Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, April 15th. Investors of record on Thursday, March 21st were given a dividend of $0.62 per share. This represents a $2.48 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.49%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, March 20th. This is a boost from Sempra’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.60. Sempra’s payout ratio is currently 51.77%.

About Sempra

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.