Franklin Resources Inc. grew its position in shares of Sempra (NYSE:SRE - Free Report) by 1.7% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 7,695,988 shares of the utilities provider's stock after buying an additional 129,891 shares during the period. Franklin Resources Inc. owned about 1.22% of Sempra worth $639,921,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.
Several other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Synovus Financial Corp lifted its stake in Sempra by 5.9% during the third quarter. Synovus Financial Corp now owns 6,846 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $573,000 after purchasing an additional 383 shares during the last quarter. Blankinship & Foster LLC bought a new stake in Sempra during the third quarter valued at $1,338,000. Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB acquired a new stake in shares of Sempra during the third quarter worth $380,000. World Investment Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Sempra in the 3rd quarter worth about $6,029,000. Finally, Sanctuary Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Sempra by 14.4% in the 3rd quarter. Sanctuary Advisors LLC now owns 190,714 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $15,949,000 after buying an additional 23,970 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 89.65% of the company's stock.
In other news, VP Trevor I. Mihalik sold 23,713 shares of Sempra stock in a transaction on Wednesday, November 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $93.09, for a total transaction of $2,207,443.17. Following the transaction, the vice president now directly owns 11,190 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,041,677.10. This trade represents a 67.94 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. 0.24% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.
Several research firms recently weighed in on SRE. Barclays increased their price objective on shares of Sempra from $89.00 to $99.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Monday, December 2nd. Jefferies Financial Group started coverage on Sempra in a research report on Thursday, October 24th. They set a "buy" rating and a $98.00 price target on the stock. Evercore ISI raised their price target on Sempra from $84.00 to $88.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Thursday, November 7th. Bank of America initiated coverage on Sempra in a research note on Thursday, September 12th. They set a "buy" rating and a $94.00 price objective for the company. Finally, Morgan Stanley upgraded Sempra from an "equal weight" rating to an "overweight" rating and raised their target price for the company from $85.00 to $98.00 in a research note on Friday. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating and ten have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Sempra currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $91.60.
Get Our Latest Analysis on SRE
Shares of SRE opened at $89.17 on Friday. Sempra has a one year low of $66.40 and a one year high of $95.77. The stock's fifty day moving average is $88.08 and its 200-day moving average is $82.15. 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 firm has a market capitalization of $56.48 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.64, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.40 and a beta of 0.77.
Sempra (NYSE:SRE - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, November 6th. The utilities provider reported $0.89 earnings per share (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 company had revenue of $2.78 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.54 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $1.08 EPS. The business's quarterly revenue was down 16.7% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts anticipate that Sempra will post 4.76 EPS for the current year.
The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, January 15th. Investors of record on Thursday, December 5th will be issued a dividend of $0.62 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, December 5th. This represents a $2.48 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.78%. Sempra's payout ratio is 54.63%.
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.
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