Northern Trust Corp Has $629.98 Million Holdings in Sempra (NYSE:SRE)

Northern Trust Corp increased its stake in shares of Sempra (NYSE:SRE) by 8.1% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 7,181,693 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after buying an additional 538,919 shares during the quarter. Northern Trust Corp’s holdings in Sempra were worth $629,978,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the stock. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company lifted its position in Sempra by 2.3% during the 4th quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 868,933 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $76,223,000 after buying an additional 19,571 shares in the last quarter. Optiver Holding B.V. lifted its position in Sempra by 128.4% during the 4th quarter. Optiver Holding B.V. now owns 1,722 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $151,000 after purchasing an additional 968 shares during the period. Beacon Pointe Advisors LLC lifted its position in Sempra by 8.1% during the 4th quarter. Beacon Pointe Advisors LLC now owns 10,751 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $943,000 after purchasing an additional 803 shares during the period. Quarry LP raised its position in shares of Sempra by 329.5% in the 4th quarter. Quarry LP now owns 1,035 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $91,000 after acquiring an additional 794 shares during the period. Finally, Boothbay Fund Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Sempra in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $206,000. Institutional investors own 89.65% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts recently weighed in on SRE shares. Guggenheim cut their price target on shares of Sempra from $95.00 to $87.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, February 26th. BMO Capital Markets decreased their price target on shares of Sempra from $92.00 to $78.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, March 4th. Argus downgraded Sempra from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 18th. Barclays downgraded Sempra from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and cut their price objective for the company from $95.00 to $72.00 in a report on Thursday, February 27th. Finally, Citigroup decreased their price target on shares of Sempra from $93.00 to $70.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, April 9th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Sempra presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $80.54.

Sempra Price Performance

NYSE:SRE opened at $75.63 on Tuesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $49.30 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.66, a P/E/G ratio of 2.19 and a beta of 0.65. Sempra has a 52-week low of $61.90 and a 52-week high of $95.77. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $71.13 and a 200 day moving average of $81.09. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.89, a quick ratio of 0.47 and a current ratio of 0.52.

Sempra (NYSE:SRE) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 25th. The utilities provider reported $1.50 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.47 by $0.03. The business had revenue of $3.76 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.73 billion. Sempra had a net margin of 22.63% and a return on equity of 8.06%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 7.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business earned $1.13 earnings per share. On average, research analysts expect that Sempra will post 4.76 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Sempra Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed 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. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, March 20th. This represents a $2.58 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.41%. This is a positive change from Sempra’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.62. Sempra’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 58.37%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Sempra

In other Sempra news, Director Michael N. Mears purchased 1,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, March 10th. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $67.70 per share, for a total transaction of $67,700.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now 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 acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Jeffrey W. Martin sold 49,737 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, January 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $82.94, for a total value of $4,125,186.78. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2 shares in the company, valued at approximately $165.88. This represents a 100.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders bought 9,319 shares of company stock valued at $651,676 and sold 57,309 shares valued at $4,694,019. Insiders own 0.27% 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.