Dorsey & Whitney Trust CO LLC Increases Stake in Sempra (NYSE:SRE)

Dorsey & Whitney Trust CO LLC lifted its stake in shares of Sempra (NYSE:SRE) by 7.1% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 3,030 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 202 shares during the period. Dorsey & Whitney Trust CO LLC’s holdings in Sempra were worth $266,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors have also modified their holdings of the stock. Atria Investments Inc raised its holdings in Sempra by 6.4% in the third quarter. Atria Investments Inc now owns 47,986 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $4,013,000 after buying an additional 2,888 shares during the period. Axxcess Wealth Management LLC raised its holdings in Sempra by 56.6% in the third quarter. Axxcess Wealth Management LLC now owns 24,923 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $2,084,000 after buying an additional 9,012 shares during the period. Crossmark Global Holdings Inc. raised its holdings in Sempra by 2.2% in the third quarter. Crossmark Global Holdings Inc. now owns 39,254 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $3,283,000 after buying an additional 830 shares during the period. Ashton Thomas Securities LLC purchased a new position in Sempra in the third quarter valued at approximately $86,000. Finally, Apollon Wealth Management LLC raised its holdings in Sempra by 6.6% in the third quarter. Apollon Wealth Management LLC now owns 10,883 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $910,000 after buying an additional 677 shares during the period. 89.65% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, SVP Alexander Lisa Larroque sold 2,755 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $81.93, for a total transaction of $225,717.15. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 13,905 shares in the company, valued at $1,139,236.65. This trade represents a 16.54 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Jeffrey W. Martin sold 49,737 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction 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 owns 2 shares in the company, valued at $165.88. This trade represents a 100.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.27% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

SRE has been the topic of several research reports. Mizuho cut their price target on shares of Sempra from $92.00 to $76.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, February 26th. Jefferies Financial Group restated a “hold” rating and issued a $77.00 price target (down previously from $96.00) on shares of Sempra in a report on Monday, March 3rd. Wells Fargo & Company cut their price target on shares of Sempra from $96.00 to $88.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, February 26th. UBS Group downgraded shares of Sempra from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and lowered their price objective for the company from $95.00 to $78.00 in a research report on Wednesday, February 26th. Finally, Barclays downgraded shares of Sempra from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and lowered their price objective for the company from $95.00 to $72.00 in a research report on Thursday, February 27th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $81.50.

Sempra Stock Down 1.1 %

SRE stock opened at $68.70 on Wednesday. Sempra has a twelve month low of $64.89 and a twelve month 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 capitalization of $44.75 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.13, a PEG ratio of 2.19 and a beta of 0.76. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $80.68 and a 200-day simple moving average of $84.27.

Sempra (NYSE:SRE) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 25th. The utilities provider reported $1.50 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.47 by $0.03. Sempra had a net margin of 22.63% and a return on equity of 8.06%. The business had revenue of $3.76 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.73 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $1.13 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 7.6% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts predict that Sempra will post 4.76 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Sempra Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 15th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, March 20th will be given a dividend of $0.645 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, March 20th. This represents a $2.58 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.76%. This is an increase from Sempra’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.62. Sempra’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 58.37%.

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.