Mitsubishi UFJ Trust & Banking Corp Sells 34,855 Shares of Sempra (NYSE:SRE)

Mitsubishi UFJ Trust & Banking Corp trimmed its holdings in shares of Sempra (NYSE:SRE) by 9.0% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 354,134 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 34,855 shares during the period. Mitsubishi UFJ Trust & Banking Corp owned 0.06% of Sempra worth $25,436,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Jupiter Asset Management Ltd. acquired a new position in shares of Sempra in the 1st quarter valued at $42,630,000. M&G Plc acquired a new position in Sempra in the first quarter valued at about $64,994,000. Banco Santander S.A. acquired a new position in Sempra in the first quarter valued at about $648,000. Wintrust Investments LLC boosted its holdings in Sempra by 8.5% during the first quarter. Wintrust Investments LLC now owns 23,987 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,723,000 after buying an additional 1,880 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Kingsview Wealth Management LLC grew its position in shares of Sempra by 5.3% during the 1st quarter. Kingsview Wealth Management LLC now owns 46,181 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $3,317,000 after buying an additional 2,333 shares during the period. 89.65% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

SRE has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. Morgan Stanley cut their price target on shares of Sempra from $79.00 to $76.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, June 24th. LADENBURG THALM/SH SH reduced their price target on shares of Sempra from $81.50 to $79.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, May 29th. BMO Capital Markets lowered their price objective on shares of Sempra from $86.00 to $84.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, July 10th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their target price on Sempra from $79.00 to $84.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, May 8th. Finally, Mizuho boosted their target price on Sempra from $79.00 to $86.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, May 17th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has assigned a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $82.10.

Insider Buying and Selling at Sempra

In other news, CAO Peter R. Wall sold 6,100 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, June 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $75.07, for a total transaction of $457,927.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief accounting officer now directly owns 14,751 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,107,357.57. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. In other Sempra news, CAO Peter R. Wall sold 6,100 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, June 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $75.07, for a total transaction of $457,927.00. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 14,751 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,107,357.57. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director Richard J. Mark acquired 1,925 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 17th. The stock was bought at an average cost of $77.97 per share, with a total value of $150,092.25. Following the acquisition, the director now owns 5,420 shares in the company, valued at approximately $422,597.40. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Company insiders own 0.24% of the company’s stock.

Sempra Stock Down 0.3 %

Shares of SRE traded down $0.20 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $77.57. The stock had a trading volume of 1,559,553 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,911,866. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.87, a current ratio of 0.62 and a quick ratio of 0.57. The firm has a market cap of $48.88 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.18, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.69 and a beta of 0.74. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $76.18 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $73.18. Sempra has a twelve month low of $63.75 and a twelve month high of $79.46.

Sempra (NYSE:SRE) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, May 7th. The utilities provider reported $1.34 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.35 by ($0.01). The firm had revenue of $3.64 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.58 billion. Sempra had a net margin of 20.99% and a return on equity of 8.95%. The company’s revenue was down 44.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $1.46 EPS. On average, analysts anticipate that Sempra will post 4.8 EPS for the current year.

Sempra Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, July 15th. Investors of record on Thursday, June 27th were given a $0.62 dividend. This represents a $2.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.20%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, June 27th. Sempra’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 54.93%.

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.