Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA Purchases 125,833 Shares of Sempra (NYSE:SRE)

Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA grew its holdings in Sempra (NYSE:SRE) by 3.0% during the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 4,335,339 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 125,833 shares during the period. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA’s holdings in Sempra were worth $362,564,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC raised its holdings in Sempra by 11.9% in the first quarter. O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC now owns 29,857 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $2,145,000 after purchasing an additional 3,165 shares during the period. Bessemer Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Sempra by 8.3% in the first quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. now owns 9,034 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $649,000 after acquiring an additional 690 shares in the last quarter. Lake Street Advisors Group LLC raised its position in shares of Sempra by 26.5% during the first quarter. Lake Street Advisors Group LLC now owns 3,874 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $281,000 after purchasing an additional 811 shares during the period. Pitcairn Co. lifted its holdings in shares of Sempra by 20.5% during the 1st quarter. Pitcairn Co. now owns 3,537 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $254,000 after purchasing an additional 601 shares in the last quarter. Finally, EntryPoint Capital LLC acquired a new position in shares of Sempra in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $96,000. 89.65% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

SRE has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Barclays upped their price target on shares of Sempra from $87.00 to $89.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 1st. BMO Capital Markets lifted their price target on Sempra from $93.00 to $96.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, October 21st. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on Sempra from $87.00 to $96.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 7th. Jefferies Financial Group began coverage on Sempra in a research note on Thursday, October 24th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $98.00 target price on the stock. Finally, Bank of America started coverage on shares of Sempra in a research note on Thursday, September 12th. They set a “buy” rating and a $94.00 price target for the company. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has given a hold rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $89.00.

Sempra Trading Up 1.7 %

Shares of NYSE:SRE opened at $94.69 on Friday. The business has a 50 day moving average of $85.44 and a 200-day moving average of $80.49. The stock has a market cap of $59.98 billion, a PE ratio of 20.86, a P/E/G ratio of 2.56 and a beta of 0.75. Sempra has a 12-month low of $66.40 and a 12-month high of $94.86. The company has a quick ratio of 0.47, a current ratio of 0.52 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.89.

Sempra (NYSE:SRE) last posted 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 quarter last year, the business earned $1.08 EPS. Sempra’s revenue was down 16.7% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Sempra will post 4.77 earnings per share for the current year.

Sempra Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, January 15th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, December 5th will be paid a dividend of $0.62 per share. This represents a $2.48 annualized dividend and a yield of 2.62%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, December 5th. Sempra’s payout ratio is presently 54.63%.

Insider Transactions at Sempra

In other Sempra news, VP Trevor I. Mihalik sold 23,713 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, November 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $93.09, for a total value of $2,207,443.17. Following the sale, the vice president now 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 filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. 0.24% of the stock is owned by 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.