MetLife Investment Management LLC Cuts Stake in Sempra (NYSE:SRE)

MetLife Investment Management LLC cut its holdings in Sempra (NYSE:SRE) by 2.5% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 164,638 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 4,171 shares during the period. MetLife Investment Management LLC’s holdings in Sempra were worth $13,769,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. B. Riley Wealth Advisors Inc. boosted its position in shares of Sempra by 36.2% during the first quarter. B. Riley Wealth Advisors Inc. now owns 13,766 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $945,000 after acquiring an additional 3,658 shares during the last quarter. iA Global Asset Management Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Sempra by 30.4% during the 1st quarter. iA Global Asset Management Inc. now owns 6,984 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $502,000 after purchasing an additional 1,629 shares during the last quarter. Sanibel Captiva Trust Company Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Sempra by 5.8% during the 1st quarter. Sanibel Captiva Trust Company Inc. now owns 5,434 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $390,000 after purchasing an additional 300 shares during the last quarter. Swedbank AB purchased a new position in shares of Sempra during the first quarter valued at about $27,338,000. Finally, Atria Investments Inc increased its holdings in shares of Sempra by 12.0% in the first quarter. Atria Investments Inc now owns 39,800 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $2,859,000 after purchasing an additional 4,258 shares during the last quarter. 89.65% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Sempra Price Performance

Sempra stock opened at $94.28 on Thursday. Sempra has a 12-month low of $66.40 and a 12-month high of $95.77. The company has a current ratio of 0.52, a quick ratio of 0.47 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.89. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $86.30 and a 200-day moving average price of $81.07. The firm has a market capitalization of $59.72 billion, a PE ratio of 20.77, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.60 and a beta of 0.75.

Sempra (NYSE:SRE) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, November 6th. The utilities provider reported $0.89 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $1.05 by ($0.16). The firm had revenue of $2.78 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.54 billion. Sempra had a return on equity of 8.06% and a net margin of 22.63%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 16.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $1.08 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Sempra will post 4.77 EPS for the current year.

Sempra Announces Dividend

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 $0.62 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, December 5th. This represents a $2.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 2.63%. Sempra’s payout ratio is 54.63%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts recently commented on SRE shares. Bank of America started coverage on Sempra in a research note on Thursday, September 12th. They set a “buy” rating and a $94.00 price target for the company. Morgan Stanley increased their target price on Sempra from $80.00 to $85.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, September 25th. Jefferies Financial Group initiated coverage on shares of Sempra in a research report on Thursday, October 24th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $98.00 price target on the stock. BMO Capital Markets increased their price objective on shares of Sempra from $93.00 to $96.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, October 21st. Finally, Evercore ISI lifted their price objective on shares of Sempra from $84.00 to $88.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, November 7th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has issued a hold rating and ten have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $89.00.

Insider Transactions at Sempra

In other Sempra news, VP Trevor I. Mihalik sold 23,713 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated 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 transaction, the vice president now directly owns 11,190 shares in the company, valued at $1,041,677.10. This represents a 67.94 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 0.27% of the company’s stock.

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.