KBC Group NV Sells 227,354 Shares of Sempra (NYSE:SRE)

KBC Group NV cut its holdings in shares of Sempra (NYSE:SRE) by 78.8% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 61,215 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 227,354 shares during the period. KBC Group NV’s holdings in Sempra were worth $5,370,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the business. Eastern Bank purchased a new stake in Sempra during the third quarter worth $28,000. Hollencrest Capital Management raised its position in shares of Sempra by 250.0% in the 3rd quarter. Hollencrest Capital Management now owns 378 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $32,000 after acquiring an additional 270 shares in the last quarter. ST Germain D J Co. Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Sempra by 225.6% during the 4th quarter. ST Germain D J Co. Inc. now owns 433 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $38,000 after purchasing an additional 300 shares during the last quarter. LRI Investments LLC boosted its position in Sempra by 180.4% during the third quarter. LRI Investments LLC now owns 443 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $40,000 after purchasing an additional 285 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Mather Group LLC. grew its stake in Sempra by 35.5% in the third quarter. Mather Group LLC. now owns 740 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $62,000 after purchasing an additional 194 shares during the last quarter. 89.65% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at Sempra

In other news, VP Trevor I. Mihalik sold 23,713 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, November 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $93.09, for a total value of $2,207,443.17. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president now owns 11,190 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,041,677.10. The trade was a 67.94 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO Jeffrey W. Martin sold 49,737 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, January 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $82.94, for a total value of $4,125,186.78. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2 shares in the company, valued at approximately $165.88. This trade represents a 100.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.24% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts have commented on SRE shares. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price target 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. Jefferies Financial Group assumed coverage on shares of Sempra in a research note on Thursday, October 24th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $98.00 target price for the company. Evercore ISI upped their price target on Sempra from $84.00 to $88.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 7th. Barclays lowered their price objective on Sempra from $99.00 to $95.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Monday. Finally, BMO Capital Markets upped their target price on Sempra from $93.00 to $96.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, October 21st. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $91.20.

Sempra Stock Up 1.7 %

Sempra stock opened at $83.34 on Friday. Sempra has a fifty-two week low of $66.40 and a fifty-two week high of $95.77. The company has a market cap of $52.79 billion, a PE ratio of 18.36, a PEG ratio of 2.10 and a beta of 0.78. 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 business’s 50-day simple moving average is $87.06 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $84.27.

Sempra (NYSE:SRE) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, November 6th. The utilities provider reported $0.89 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.05 by ($0.16). Sempra had a net margin of 22.63% and a return on equity of 8.06%. The firm had revenue of $2.78 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.54 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $1.08 EPS. Sempra’s quarterly revenue was down 16.7% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts anticipate that Sempra will post 4.77 EPS for the current year.

Sempra Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, January 15th. Investors of record on Thursday, December 5th were given a dividend of $0.62 per share. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, December 5th. This represents a $2.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.98%. Sempra’s dividend payout ratio is presently 54.63%.

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.