First Interstate Bank Buys Shares of 2,678 Sempra (NYSE:SRE)

First Interstate Bank bought a new position in shares of Sempra (NYSE:SRE) during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm bought 2,678 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $204,000.

A number of other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Wellington Management Group LLP increased its position in shares of Sempra by 12.1% in the 4th quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 27,123,899 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $2,026,969,000 after buying an additional 2,917,668 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new stake in Sempra in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $958,253,000. Clearbridge Investments LLC boosted its position in Sempra by 1.9% during the 1st quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC now owns 12,578,779 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $903,534,000 after acquiring an additional 233,819 shares during the last quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. grew its stake in shares of Sempra by 7.7% during the 4th quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 7,077,642 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $528,912,000 after acquiring an additional 507,622 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Perpetual Ltd raised its holdings in shares of Sempra by 4.8% in the first quarter. Perpetual Ltd now owns 2,891,026 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $207,662,000 after purchasing an additional 133,119 shares during the last quarter. 89.65% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

SRE has been the subject of several recent research reports. Barclays increased their target price on shares of Sempra from $81.00 to $87.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 13th. Mizuho increased their price objective on shares of Sempra from $79.00 to $86.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, May 17th. Morgan Stanley lifted their target price on Sempra from $77.00 to $80.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, August 23rd. BMO Capital Markets reduced their price target on Sempra from $86.00 to $84.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, July 10th. Finally, LADENBURG THALM/SH SH decreased their price target on Sempra from $81.50 to $79.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, May 29th. One equities research 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. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $83.36.

Insider Buying and Selling at Sempra

In other news, CAO Peter R. Wall sold 6,100 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, June 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $75.07, for a total transaction of $457,927.00. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 14,751 shares in the company, valued at $1,107,357.57. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Insiders own 0.24% of the company’s stock.

Sempra Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE SRE opened at $82.94 on Tuesday. The company has a current ratio of 0.46, a quick ratio of 0.41 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.84. The company has a market capitalization of $52.51 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.37, a P/E/G ratio of 2.86 and a beta of 0.75. Sempra has a 12 month low of $63.75 and a 12 month high of $84.28. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $79.16 and a 200-day moving average of $75.20.

Sempra (NYSE:SRE) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, August 6th. The utilities provider reported $0.89 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.92 by ($0.03). Sempra had a return on equity of 8.58% and a net margin of 22.31%. The company had revenue of $3.01 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.46 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $0.94 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 9.7% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Sempra will post 4.79 EPS for the current year.

Sempra Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, October 15th. Investors of record on Thursday, September 26th will be paid a $0.62 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, September 26th. This represents a $2.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.99%. Sempra’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 54.93%.

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.