Citizens Financial Group Inc. RI Boosts Position in Sempra (NYSE:SRE)

Citizens Financial Group Inc. RI grew its holdings in shares of Sempra (NYSE:SRE) by 0.7% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 28,928 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after buying an additional 201 shares during the period. Citizens Financial Group Inc. RI’s holdings in Sempra were worth $2,162,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in SRE. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake 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 buying an additional 31,334,782 shares during the period. Wellington Management Group LLP increased its stake 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 buying an additional 12,184,568 shares during the period. FMR LLC increased its stake 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 buying an additional 8,546,205 shares during the period. Newport Trust Company LLC boosted its position 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 purchasing an additional 7,348,746 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Clearbridge Investments LLC boosted its position 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 purchasing an additional 6,338,545 shares in the last quarter. 89.65% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts recently weighed in on SRE shares. BMO Capital Markets upgraded 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 research report on Thursday, January 11th. Barclays lifted their price target on Sempra from $77.00 to $79.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 14th. Morgan Stanley lifted their price target on Sempra from $74.00 to $75.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 21st. Mizuho dropped their price target on Sempra from $83.00 to $79.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, January 25th. Finally, LADENBURG THALM/SH SH started coverage on Sempra in a research report on Wednesday, January 3rd. They set a “buy” rating and a $81.50 price target on the stock. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has given a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $82.14.

Sempra Stock Down 0.9 %

Sempra stock traded down $0.66 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $71.32. The company had a trading volume of 3,161,506 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,951,422. The company has a current ratio of 0.54, a quick ratio of 0.49 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.85. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $70.55 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $71.68. Sempra has a 12 month low of $63.75 and a 12 month high of $79.30. The company has a market capitalization of $45.08 billion, a PE ratio of 14.89, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.49 and a beta of 0.71.

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

Sempra Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, April 15th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, March 21st were issued a dividend of $0.62 per share. This is an increase from Sempra’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.60. This represents a $2.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.48%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, March 20th. Sempra’s dividend payout ratio is presently 51.77%.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Jeffrey W. Martin sold 50,703 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $70.92, for a total transaction of $3,595,856.76. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $141.84. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. In other news, CEO Jeffrey W. Martin sold 50,703 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, February 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $70.92, for a total transaction of $3,595,856.76. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $141.84. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, VP Trevor I. Mihalik sold 57,571 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, March 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $70.59, for a total value of $4,063,936.89. Following the sale, the vice president now owns 10,922 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $770,983.98. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 122,432 shares of company stock valued at $8,668,035 over the last ninety days. 0.24% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Sempra Company 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.