Grove Bank & Trust Sells 1,504 Shares of Sempra (NYSE:SRE)

Grove Bank & Trust decreased its stake in shares of Sempra (NYSE:SRE) by 14.2% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 9,095 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 1,504 shares during the quarter. Grove Bank & Trust’s holdings in Sempra were worth $798,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other large investors have also made changes to their positions in the stock. Wellington Management Group LLP raised its holdings in Sempra by 0.4% in the 3rd quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 34,324,893 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $2,870,591,000 after acquiring an additional 128,847 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp increased its position in shares of Sempra by 4.9% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 32,940,620 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $2,774,974,000 after purchasing an additional 1,539,026 shares during the period. FMR LLC raised its stake in shares of Sempra by 9.1% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 18,978,605 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,587,181,000 after purchasing an additional 1,582,653 shares in the last quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC lifted its position in Sempra by 6.9% in the second quarter. Clearbridge Investments LLC now owns 13,452,912 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,023,228,000 after purchasing an additional 874,133 shares during the period. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in Sempra by 1.2% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 12,761,872 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,063,007,000 after buying an additional 145,873 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 89.65% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts have recently commented on the stock. Barclays raised their price objective on shares of Sempra from $89.00 to $99.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Monday, December 2nd. Morgan Stanley raised Sempra from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and lifted their price objective for the company from $85.00 to $98.00 in a report on Friday, December 13th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on Sempra from $87.00 to $96.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, November 7th. Jefferies Financial Group started coverage on Sempra in a research note on Thursday, October 24th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $98.00 price target on the stock. Finally, BMO Capital Markets increased their price objective on Sempra from $93.00 to $96.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, October 21st. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $91.60.

Sempra Price Performance

Shares of SRE stock opened at $85.24 on Monday. Sempra has a 52 week low of $66.40 and a 52 week high of $95.77. The stock has a market capitalization of $53.99 billion, a PE ratio of 18.77, a PEG ratio of 2.00 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 stock’s fifty day moving average is $88.50 and its 200-day moving average is $83.86.

Sempra (NYSE:SRE) last issued its quarterly earnings data 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 return on equity of 8.06% and a net margin of 22.63%. The company had revenue of $2.78 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.54 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $1.08 EPS. The firm’s revenue was down 16.7% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts expect that Sempra will post 4.77 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Sempra Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, January 15th. Investors of record on Thursday, December 5th were issued a $0.62 dividend. This represents a $2.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 2.91%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, December 5th. Sempra’s dividend payout ratio is currently 54.63%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, VP Trevor I. Mihalik sold 23,713 shares of Sempra 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 sale, 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 sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. 0.24% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.