3,947 Shares in Sempra (NYSE:SRE) Bought by Wilbanks Smith & Thomas Asset Management LLC

Wilbanks Smith & Thomas Asset Management LLC bought a new position in Sempra (NYSE:SRE) in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm bought 3,947 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $295,000.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Sempra by 101.8% during the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 62,117,948 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $4,225,884,000 after acquiring an additional 31,334,782 shares during the period. Wellington Management Group LLP lifted its holdings in shares of Sempra by 101.4% during the third quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 24,206,231 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,646,750,000 after acquiring an additional 12,184,568 shares during the period. Newport Trust Company LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Sempra by 104.0% during the third quarter. Newport Trust Company LLC now owns 14,416,527 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $980,756,000 after acquiring an additional 7,348,746 shares during the period. FMR LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Sempra by 147.0% during the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 14,360,225 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $976,926,000 after acquiring an additional 8,546,205 shares during the period. Finally, Clearbridge Investments LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Sempra by 109.0% during the third quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC now owns 12,154,272 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $826,855,000 after acquiring an additional 6,338,545 shares during the period. 89.65% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

SRE has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Morgan Stanley lifted their price target on Sempra from $74.00 to $75.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, March 21st. StockNews.com cut Sempra from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 20th. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $82.00 price target on shares of Sempra in a report on Wednesday, March 6th. BMO Capital Markets raised Sempra from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and lifted their price target for the company from $76.00 to $84.00 in a report on Thursday, January 11th. Finally, Barclays lifted their price target on Sempra from $77.00 to $79.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, March 14th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has issued a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Sempra has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $82.14.

Sempra Price Performance

Shares of SRE stock opened at $72.92 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $46.10 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.22, a PEG ratio of 2.52 and a beta of 0.70. Sempra has a 12 month low of $63.75 and a 12 month high of $78.70. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $70.63 and a 200 day moving average price of $71.77. The company has a quick ratio of 0.49, a current ratio of 0.54 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.85.

Sempra (NYSE:SRE) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, February 27th. The utilities provider reported $1.13 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.11 by $0.02. The company had revenue of $3.49 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.01 billion. Sempra had a return on equity of 9.45% and a net margin of 18.26%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 1.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $1.17 EPS. Research analysts expect that Sempra will post 4.82 EPS for the current year.

Sempra Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, April 15th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, March 21st were given a dividend of $0.62 per share. This is a positive change from Sempra’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.60. This represents a $2.48 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.40%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, March 20th. Sempra’s payout ratio is presently 51.77%.

Insider Transactions at Sempra

In other news, EVP Justin Christopher Bird sold 5,063 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $71.22, for a total transaction of $360,586.86. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 19,712 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,403,888.64. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. In other news, EVP Justin Christopher Bird sold 5,063 shares of Sempra stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $71.22, for a total transaction of $360,586.86. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 19,712 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,403,888.64. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider Diana L. Day sold 3,937 shares of Sempra stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $71.21, for a total value of $280,353.77. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 18,145 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,292,105.45. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 122,432 shares of company stock worth $8,668,035. 0.24% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Sempra 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.