Sempra (NYSE:SRE) Stock Holdings Lessened by Cresset Asset Management LLC

Cresset Asset Management LLC lowered its stake in Sempra (NYSE:SRE - Free Report) by 82.7% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 5,946 shares of the utilities provider's stock after selling 28,468 shares during the period. Cresset Asset Management LLC's holdings in Sempra were worth $523,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Sempra by 0.8% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 63,018,055 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $5,527,944,000 after buying an additional 490,269 shares in the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP increased its holdings in shares of Sempra by 11.9% in the fourth quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 38,407,154 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $3,369,076,000 after buying an additional 4,082,261 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC increased its holdings in shares of Sempra by 8.0% in the fourth quarter. FMR LLC now owns 20,489,918 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $1,797,376,000 after buying an additional 1,511,313 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Sempra in the fourth quarter valued at $1,535,000,000. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Sempra by 2.4% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 13,072,966 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $1,143,248,000 after buying an additional 311,094 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 89.65% of the company's stock.

Sempra Trading Down 0.3%

Sempra stock opened at $74.89 on Thursday. The company's fifty day simple moving average is $71.20 and its 200-day simple moving average is $80.33. 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 has a 12 month low of $61.90 and a 12 month high of $95.77. The stock has a market cap of $48.82 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.50, a P/E/G ratio of 2.19 and a beta of 0.63.

Sempra (NYSE:SRE - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 8th. The utilities provider reported $1.44 EPS for the quarter, beating 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 business had revenue of $3.80 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $3.90 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $1.34 EPS. Sempra's revenue was up 4.5% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Sempra will post 4.76 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Sempra Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, April 15th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, March 20th were given a dividend of $0.645 per share. This represents a $2.58 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.45%. This is an increase from Sempra's previous quarterly dividend of $0.62. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, March 20th. Sempra's dividend payout ratio is presently 56.70%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research analysts have issued reports on SRE shares. Barclays cut Sempra from an "overweight" rating to an "equal weight" rating and dropped their price target for the company from $95.00 to $72.00 in a report on Thursday, February 27th. Mizuho cut their target price on shares of Sempra from $92.00 to $76.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, February 26th. Wells Fargo & Company cut their target price on shares of Sempra from $88.00 to $85.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, March 26th. Argus downgraded shares of Sempra from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 18th. Finally, UBS Group downgraded shares of Sempra from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating and cut their target price for the company from $95.00 to $78.00 in a research note on Wednesday, February 26th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $80.77.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Sempra news, Director Michael N. Mears bought 1,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, March 10th. The shares were purchased at an average cost 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 $338,500. This represents a 25.00% increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, insider Diana L. Day sold 8,015 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $74.26, for a total transaction of $595,193.90. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 16,969 shares in the company, valued at $1,260,117.94. The trade was a 32.08% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have acquired 9,319 shares of company stock valued at $651,676 over the last three months. 0.27% of the stock is currently owned by 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.

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