Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC Decreases Position in Sempra (NYSE:SRE)

Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC lessened its stake in shares of Sempra (NYSE:SRE) by 23.3% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 36,691 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 11,155 shares during the quarter. Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC’s holdings in Sempra were worth $2,742,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. lifted its holdings in Sempra by 7.1% in the fourth quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 732,542 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $55,681,000 after acquiring an additional 48,403 shares during the period. Quotient Wealth Partners LLC acquired a new stake in Sempra during the 4th quarter valued at $552,000. 1ST Source Bank raised its holdings in shares of Sempra by 19.4% in the fourth quarter. 1ST Source Bank now owns 3,872 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $289,000 after acquiring an additional 630 shares during the last quarter. Providence First Trust Co purchased a new stake in shares of Sempra in the fourth quarter valued at $357,000. Finally, Ieq Capital LLC boosted its stake in shares of Sempra by 7.3% during the fourth quarter. Ieq Capital LLC now owns 16,086 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,202,000 after acquiring an additional 1,097 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 89.65% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Sempra

In related news, CEO Jeffrey W. Martin sold 50,703 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $70.92, for a total transaction of $3,595,856.76. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2 shares in the company, valued at $141.84. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. In other news, CEO Jeffrey W. Martin sold 50,703 shares of Sempra stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $70.92, for a total transaction of $3,595,856.76. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 2 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $141.84. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, VP Trevor I. Mihalik sold 57,571 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $70.59, for a total value of $4,063,936.89. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now owns 10,922 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $770,983.98. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 122,432 shares of company stock valued at $8,668,035 over the last three months. 0.27% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Sempra Stock Performance

Sempra stock traded up $0.18 during trading hours on Thursday, reaching $78.21. 737,080 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 3,022,146. Sempra has a 12 month low of $63.75 and a 12 month high of $78.40. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $71.50 and a 200 day moving average of $72.14. The firm has a market cap of $49.50 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.28, a PEG ratio of 2.67 and a beta of 0.70. The company has a current ratio of 0.62, a quick ratio of 0.57 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.87.

Sempra (NYSE:SRE) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, May 7th. The utilities provider reported $1.34 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.35 by ($0.01). Sempra had a return on equity of 8.95% and a net margin of 20.99%. The firm had revenue of $3.64 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.58 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $1.46 earnings per share. Sempra’s quarterly revenue was down 44.5% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Sempra will post 4.82 earnings per share for the current year.

Sempra Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, July 15th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, June 27th will be paid a $0.62 dividend. This represents a $2.48 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.17%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, June 27th. Sempra’s payout ratio is presently 54.93%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have issued reports on SRE. Royal Bank of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $82.00 price target on shares of Sempra in a research note on Wednesday, March 6th. Barclays upped their price target on Sempra from $77.00 to $79.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 14th. StockNews.com cut Sempra from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 20th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on shares of Sempra from $79.00 to $84.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 8th. Finally, Morgan Stanley boosted their price target on shares of Sempra from $74.00 to $75.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 21st. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has issued a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $82.23.

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.