First American Trust FSB Trims Position in Sempra (NYSE:SRE)

First American Trust FSB decreased its position in shares of Sempra (NYSE:SRE) by 21.6% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 2,980 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 823 shares during the quarter. First American Trust FSB’s holdings in Sempra were worth $261,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of SRE. Crews Bank & Trust bought a new stake in Sempra during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $26,000. Synergy Investment Management LLC purchased a new stake in Sempra during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $29,000. TCTC Holdings LLC raised its position in shares of Sempra by 265.2% during the fourth quarter. TCTC Holdings LLC now owns 336 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $29,000 after buying an additional 244 shares during the last quarter. Human Investing LLC purchased a new position in shares of Sempra in the fourth quarter worth $31,000. Finally, ST Germain D J Co. Inc. boosted its position in shares of Sempra by 225.6% during the fourth quarter. ST Germain D J Co. Inc. now owns 433 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $38,000 after acquiring an additional 300 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 89.65% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have issued reports on SRE. Jefferies Financial Group reiterated a “hold” rating and issued a $77.00 price target (down previously from $96.00) on shares of Sempra in a research note on Monday, March 3rd. UBS Group lowered Sempra from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and dropped their price target for the company from $95.00 to $78.00 in a research note on Wednesday, February 26th. BMO Capital Markets reduced their price objective on Sempra from $92.00 to $78.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, March 4th. Barclays downgraded Sempra from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and lowered their target price for the company from $95.00 to $72.00 in a research report on Thursday, February 27th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group cut shares of Sempra from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and reduced their price target for the stock from $99.00 to $76.00 in a research report on Wednesday, February 26th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $81.58.

Sempra Stock Down 1.4 %

Shares of NYSE SRE opened at $69.30 on Wednesday. Sempra has a 1 year low of $64.89 and a 1 year high of $95.77. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $78.05 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $83.40. The company has a market cap of $45.15 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.26, a PEG ratio of 2.19 and a beta of 0.76. 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 released its earnings results on Tuesday, February 25th. The utilities provider reported $1.50 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.47 by $0.03. The business had revenue of $3.76 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.73 billion. Sempra had a return on equity of 8.06% and a net margin of 22.63%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company earned $1.13 earnings per share. Research analysts anticipate that Sempra will post 4.76 earnings per share for the current year.

Sempra Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 15th. Shareholders 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 is a positive change from Sempra’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.62. This represents a $2.58 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.72%. Sempra’s payout ratio is 58.37%.

Insider Activity at Sempra

In related news, CEO Jeffrey W. Martin sold 49,737 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, January 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $82.94, for a total transaction of $4,125,186.78. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2 shares in the company, valued at $165.88. This represents a 100.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, Director Cynthia J. Warner acquired 700 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 6th. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $70.65 per share, for a total transaction of $49,455.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 8,759 shares in the company, valued at approximately $618,823.35. The trade was a 8.69 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Insiders bought 9,319 shares of company stock worth $651,676 over the last three months. 0.24% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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.