Sempra (NYSE:SRE) Shares Sold by Toronto Dominion Bank

Toronto Dominion Bank trimmed its position in shares of Sempra (NYSE:SRE - Free Report) by 19.1% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 226,474 shares of the utilities provider's stock after selling 53,470 shares during the quarter. Toronto Dominion Bank's holdings in Sempra were worth $19,866,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in Sempra during the fourth quarter worth about $1,535,000,000. Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its holdings in Sempra by 11.9% during the fourth quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 38,407,154 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $3,369,076,000 after buying an additional 4,082,261 shares in the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. boosted its holdings in Sempra by 70.6% during the fourth quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 6,666,240 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $584,763,000 after buying an additional 2,758,037 shares in the last quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC boosted its holdings in Sempra by 71.3% during the fourth quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 4,651,923 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $408,069,000 after buying an additional 1,936,865 shares in the last quarter. Finally, FMR LLC boosted its holdings in Sempra by 8.0% during the fourth quarter. FMR LLC now owns 20,489,918 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $1,797,376,000 after buying an additional 1,511,313 shares in the last quarter. 89.65% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms recently commented on SRE. The Goldman Sachs Group downgraded shares of Sempra from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating and decreased their price objective for the stock from $99.00 to $76.00 in a report on Wednesday, February 26th. BMO Capital Markets boosted their price objective on shares of Sempra from $78.00 to $81.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Monday, May 12th. Mizuho reduced their price target on shares of Sempra from $92.00 to $76.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, February 26th. Barclays downgraded shares of Sempra from an "overweight" rating to an "equal weight" rating and reduced their price target for the company from $95.00 to $72.00 in a report on Thursday, February 27th. Finally, UBS Group downgraded shares of Sempra from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating and reduced their price target for the company from $95.00 to $78.00 in a report on Wednesday, February 26th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $80.62.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Sempra news, Director Michael N. Mears acquired 1,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 10th. The stock was bought at an average price of $67.70 per share, with a total value of $67,700.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 5,000 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $338,500. The trade was a 25.00% increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Director Cynthia J. Warner acquired 700 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 6th. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $70.65 per share, with a total value of $49,455.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 8,759 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $618,823.35. This represents a 8.69% increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders purchased 9,319 shares of company stock valued at $651,676. Insiders own 0.27% of the company's stock.

Sempra Trading Up 1.3%

Shares of SRE traded up $0.96 on Friday, hitting $77.71. 3,272,360 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 3,754,874. 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 $50.66 billion, a P/E ratio of 17.12, a P/E/G ratio of 2.19 and a beta of 0.63. The stock's 50 day moving average is $72.30 and its two-hundred day moving average is $79.94. Sempra has a 1 year low of $61.90 and a 1 year high of $95.77.

Sempra (NYSE:SRE - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 8th. The utilities provider reported $1.44 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.32 by $0.12. Sempra had a net margin of 22.63% and a return on equity of 8.06%. The firm had revenue of $3.80 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.90 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $1.34 earnings per share. Sempra's revenue for the quarter was up 4.5% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Sempra will post 4.76 earnings per share for the current year.

Sempra Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, July 15th. Investors of record on Thursday, June 26th will be given a dividend of $0.645 per share. This represents a $2.58 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.32%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, June 26th. Sempra's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 56.70%.

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.