Truist Financial Corp Sells 23,281 Shares of Sempra (NYSE:SRE)

Truist Financial Corp lessened its stake in Sempra (NYSE:SRE) by 22.0% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 82,605 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 23,281 shares during the quarter. Truist Financial Corp’s holdings in Sempra were worth $6,173,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Turtle Creek Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Sempra in the fourth quarter valued at about $28,000. Essex Investment Management Co. LLC increased its holdings in Sempra by 100.0% in the third quarter. Essex Investment Management Co. LLC now owns 390 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $27,000 after purchasing an additional 195 shares during the last quarter. Monetary Management Group Inc. grew its stake in Sempra by 100.0% in the third quarter. Monetary Management Group Inc. now owns 400 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $27,000 after acquiring an additional 200 shares during the period. Wolverine Asset Management LLC grew its stake in Sempra by 100.0% in the third quarter. Wolverine Asset Management LLC now owns 400 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $27,000 after acquiring an additional 200 shares during the period. Finally, Spire Wealth Management grew its stake in Sempra by 85.6% in the third quarter. Spire Wealth Management now owns 412 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $28,000 after acquiring an additional 190 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 89.65% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have issued reports on SRE. Morgan Stanley boosted their target price on Sempra from $74.00 to $75.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 21st. StockNews.com cut Sempra from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 20th. Mizuho decreased their target price on Sempra from $83.00 to $79.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, January 25th. BMO Capital Markets raised Sempra from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and boosted their target price for the company from $76.00 to $84.00 in a research note on Thursday, January 11th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $82.00 target price on shares of Sempra in a research note on Wednesday, March 6th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has issued a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $82.14.

Sempra Stock Up 0.1 %

SRE stock opened at $72.92 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.85, a current ratio of 0.54 and a quick ratio of 0.49. The stock has a market capitalization of $46.10 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.22, a P/E/G ratio of 2.52 and a beta of 0.70. The business has a 50-day moving average of $70.65 and a 200-day moving average of $71.78. Sempra has a fifty-two week low of $63.75 and a fifty-two week high of $78.70.

Sempra (NYSE:SRE) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, February 27th. The utilities provider reported $1.13 earnings per share (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 analyst estimates of $4.01 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $1.17 earnings per share. Sempra’s revenue was up 1.0% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Sempra will post 4.82 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Sempra Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, April 15th. Investors of record on Thursday, March 21st were issued a dividend of $0.62 per share. This represents a $2.48 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.40%. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, March 20th. This is a positive change from Sempra’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.60. Sempra’s dividend payout ratio is presently 51.77%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Sempra news, insider Diana L. Day sold 3,937 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $71.21, for a total value of $280,353.77. Following the sale, the insider now owns 18,145 shares in the company, valued at $1,292,105.45. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. In other Sempra news, CEO Jeffrey W. Martin sold 50,703 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 28th. The stock was sold at an average price of $70.92, for a total value of $3,595,856.76. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 2 shares in the company, valued at $141.84. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, insider Diana L. Day sold 3,937 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $71.21, for a total value of $280,353.77. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 18,145 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,292,105.45. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 122,432 shares of company stock worth $8,668,035. Corporate insiders own 0.24% of the company’s stock.

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.