Barclays PLC Acquires 45,884 Shares of Sempra (NYSE:SRE)

Barclays PLC raised its holdings in Sempra (NYSE:SRE) by 1.9% in the third quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 2,407,666 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 45,884 shares during the period. Barclays PLC owned approximately 0.38% of Sempra worth $201,352,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of SRE. Eastern Bank bought a new stake in Sempra in the 3rd quarter valued at about $28,000. Hollencrest Capital Management boosted its holdings in Sempra by 250.0% in the 3rd quarter. Hollencrest Capital Management now owns 378 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $32,000 after purchasing an additional 270 shares during the period. LRI Investments LLC raised its position in shares of Sempra by 180.4% in the 3rd quarter. LRI Investments LLC now owns 443 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $40,000 after buying an additional 285 shares in the last quarter. Mather Group LLC. raised its position in shares of Sempra by 35.5% in the 3rd quarter. Mather Group LLC. now owns 740 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $62,000 after buying an additional 194 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Values First Advisors Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Sempra in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $81,000. Institutional investors own 89.65% of the company’s stock.

Sempra Trading Down 0.7 %

SRE opened at $82.16 on Tuesday. Sempra has a fifty-two week low of $66.40 and a fifty-two week high of $95.77. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.89, a current ratio of 0.52 and a quick ratio of 0.47. The firm has a market capitalization of $52.04 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.10, a PEG ratio of 2.10 and a beta of 0.78. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $87.72 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $84.22.

Sempra (NYSE:SRE) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, November 6th. The utilities provider reported $0.89 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.05 by ($0.16). Sempra had a return on equity of 8.06% and a net margin of 22.63%. The business had revenue of $2.78 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.54 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $1.08 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was down 16.7% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts predict that Sempra will post 4.77 earnings per share for the current year.

Sempra Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, January 15th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, December 5th were issued a dividend of $0.62 per share. This represents a $2.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.02%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, December 5th. Sempra’s payout ratio is 54.63%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, VP Trevor I. Mihalik sold 23,713 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, November 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $93.09, for a total value of $2,207,443.17. Following the sale, the vice president now directly owns 11,190 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,041,677.10. This represents a 67.94 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Insiders own 0.24% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

SRE has been the subject of several analyst reports. Morgan Stanley upgraded shares of Sempra from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and boosted their target price for the company from $85.00 to $98.00 in a research report on Friday, December 13th. Evercore ISI boosted their target price on shares of Sempra from $84.00 to $88.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 7th. BMO Capital Markets boosted their target price on shares of Sempra from $93.00 to $96.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, October 21st. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on shares of Sempra from $87.00 to $96.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 7th. Finally, Barclays lowered their price objective on shares of Sempra from $99.00 to $95.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Monday. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Sempra has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $91.20.

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.