Sempra (NYSE:SRE) Stock Holdings Increased by Franklin Resources Inc.

Franklin Resources Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Sempra (NYSE:SRE) by 1.7% in the third quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 7,695,988 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after buying an additional 129,891 shares during the period. Franklin Resources Inc.’s holdings in Sempra were worth $639,921,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in SRE. Unigestion Holding SA acquired a new stake in shares of Sempra during the 3rd quarter valued at $33,023,000. Dai ichi Life Insurance Company Ltd lifted its holdings in shares of Sempra by 319.5% during the second quarter. Dai ichi Life Insurance Company Ltd now owns 196,954 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $14,980,000 after purchasing an additional 150,000 shares during the last quarter. TCW Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of Sempra by 28.2% in the 2nd quarter. TCW Group Inc. now owns 67,765 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $5,154,000 after purchasing an additional 14,890 shares during the period. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of Sempra by 1.9% in the 3rd quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 357,107 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $29,865,000 after purchasing an additional 6,709 shares during the period. Finally, CIBC Asset Management Inc increased its stake in Sempra by 7.2% in the 3rd quarter. CIBC Asset Management Inc now owns 107,800 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $9,015,000 after purchasing an additional 7,198 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 89.65% of the company’s stock.

Sempra Trading Up 1.4 %

Shares of NYSE:SRE opened at $89.17 on Friday. Sempra has a 12-month low of $66.40 and a 12-month high of $95.77. The company has a quick ratio of 0.47, a current ratio of 0.52 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.89. The firm has a market capitalization of $56.48 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.64, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.40 and a beta of 0.77. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $88.08 and a two-hundred day moving average of $82.15.

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 last year, the firm earned $1.08 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 16.7% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts expect that Sempra will post 4.76 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Sempra Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, January 15th. Investors of record on Thursday, December 5th will be given a dividend of $0.62 per share. This represents a $2.48 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.78%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, December 5th. Sempra’s payout ratio is presently 54.63%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms have commented on SRE. Evercore ISI upped their price objective on shares of Sempra from $84.00 to $88.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 7th. BMO Capital Markets upped their price target on shares of Sempra from $93.00 to $96.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, October 21st. Morgan Stanley upgraded shares of Sempra from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and lifted their price objective for the stock from $85.00 to $98.00 in a research report on Friday. Barclays boosted their target price on shares of Sempra from $89.00 to $99.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Monday, December 2nd. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group began coverage on Sempra in a research report on Thursday, October 24th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $98.00 target price for the company. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Sempra currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $91.60.

Insider Buying and Selling at Sempra

In other Sempra news, VP Trevor I. Mihalik sold 23,713 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated 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 $1,041,677.10. This trade represents a 67.94 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 0.24% of the company’s stock.

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.