Principal Financial Group Inc. Has $135.82 Million Stake in Sempra (NYSE:SRE)

Principal Financial Group Inc. reduced its position in Sempra (NYSE:SRE) by 5.2% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 1,785,631 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 97,342 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc.’s holdings in Sempra were worth $135,815,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of SRE. American Capital Advisory LLC grew its holdings in shares of Sempra by 100.0% during the second quarter. American Capital Advisory LLC now owns 1,110 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $83,000 after buying an additional 555 shares during the last quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank lifted its position in Sempra by 14.9% in the 2nd quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank now owns 252,226 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $19,184,000 after acquiring an additional 32,712 shares in the last quarter. Whittier Trust Co. of Nevada Inc. boosted its stake in Sempra by 2.1% during the 2nd quarter. Whittier Trust Co. of Nevada Inc. now owns 9,163 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $697,000 after purchasing an additional 188 shares during the last quarter. HB Wealth Management LLC increased its holdings in Sempra by 23.1% during the 2nd quarter. HB Wealth Management LLC now owns 12,573 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $956,000 after purchasing an additional 2,359 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Lester Murray Antman dba SimplyRich raised its stake in shares of Sempra by 1.2% in the second quarter. Lester Murray Antman dba SimplyRich now owns 12,558 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $955,000 after purchasing an additional 152 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 89.65% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

SRE has been the topic of several analyst reports. BMO Capital Markets cut their target price on Sempra from $86.00 to $84.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, July 10th. Barclays upped their target price on shares of Sempra from $81.00 to $87.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 13th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target 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. Evercore ISI upped their price objective on shares of Sempra from $83.00 to $84.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 7th. Finally, LADENBURG THALM/SH SH dropped their target price on shares of Sempra from $81.50 to $79.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, May 29th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has issued a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $83.36.

Insider Activity at Sempra

In other Sempra news, CAO Peter R. Wall sold 6,100 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, June 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $75.07, for a total transaction of $457,927.00. Following the completion of 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 document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. 0.24% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Sempra Stock Performance

Shares of SRE stock traded up $0.56 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $82.18. 3,164,340 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,940,226. 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 stock has a market capitalization of $51.79 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 18.22, a P/E/G ratio of 2.78 and a beta of 0.74. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $78.20 and a 200 day simple moving average of $74.55. Sempra has a 52-week low of $63.75 and a 52-week high of $83.68.

Sempra (NYSE:SRE) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, August 6th. The utilities provider reported $0.89 earnings per share (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 firm had revenue of $3.01 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.46 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $0.94 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was down 9.7% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts predict that Sempra will post 4.79 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Sempra Company 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.