Colonial Trust Co SC Acquires 501 Shares of Sempra (NYSE:SRE)

Colonial Trust Co SC lifted its holdings in shares of Sempra (NYSE:SRE) by 9.5% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 5,764 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 501 shares during the quarter. Colonial Trust Co SC’s holdings in Sempra were worth $506,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Barclays PLC grew its position in shares of Sempra by 1.9% during the 3rd quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 2,407,666 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $201,352,000 after buying an additional 45,884 shares during the period. JPMorgan Chase & Co. grew its holdings in Sempra by 8.8% in the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 3,428,132 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $286,695,000 after purchasing an additional 278,183 shares during the period. Baker Tilly Wealth Management LLC increased its stake in Sempra by 10.8% in the fourth quarter. Baker Tilly Wealth Management LLC now owns 14,753 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,294,000 after purchasing an additional 1,436 shares in the last quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC raised its holdings in shares of Sempra by 1.6% during the fourth quarter. Wealth Enhancement Advisory Services LLC now owns 144,231 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $12,062,000 after purchasing an additional 2,230 shares during the period. Finally, ST Germain D J Co. Inc. raised its holdings 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 valued at $38,000 after purchasing an additional 300 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 89.65% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Sempra

In other Sempra news, EVP Justin Christopher Bird sold 4,817 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, April 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $71.23, for a total transaction of $343,114.91. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 19,778 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,408,786.94. This represents a 19.59 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, Director Cynthia J. Warner bought 700 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 6th. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $70.65 per share, with a total value of $49,455.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 8,759 shares of the company’s stock, 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. Over the last 90 days, insiders purchased 9,319 shares of company stock worth $651,676. 0.27% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts recently commented on SRE shares. Morgan Stanley set a $89.00 target price on Sempra and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 23rd. Barclays downgraded Sempra from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and decreased their price objective for the company from $95.00 to $72.00 in a report on Thursday, February 27th. UBS Group cut Sempra from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and cut their target price for the stock from $95.00 to $78.00 in a report on Wednesday, February 26th. Citigroup decreased their price target on shares of Sempra from $93.00 to $70.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, April 9th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets dropped their price objective on shares of Sempra from $92.00 to $78.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, March 4th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $80.54.

Sempra Trading Up 1.1 %

Shares of SRE stock opened at $75.92 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.89, a quick ratio of 0.47 and a current ratio of 0.52. The company has a market capitalization of $49.49 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.72, a PEG ratio of 2.19 and a beta of 0.63. Sempra has a 52-week low of $61.90 and a 52-week high of $95.77. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $70.72 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $80.67.

Sempra (NYSE:SRE) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, February 25th. The utilities provider reported $1.50 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.47 by $0.03. The company had revenue of $3.76 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.73 billion. Sempra had a return on equity of 8.06% and a net margin of 22.63%. Sempra’s quarterly revenue was up 7.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $1.13 earnings per share. Research analysts anticipate that Sempra will post 4.76 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Sempra Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, April 15th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, March 20th were paid a dividend of $0.645 per share. This represents a $2.58 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.40%. This is a boost from Sempra’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.62. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, March 20th. Sempra’s payout ratio is presently 58.37%.

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.