Here’s Why ClearBridge Investments Invested in Sempra (SRE)

ClearBridge Investments, an investment management firm, published its “Dividend Strategy” third quarter 2021 investor letter – a copy of which can be downloaded here. The ClearBridge Dividend Strategy outperformed its S&P 500 Index benchmark during the third quarter. On an absolute basis, the Strategy had gains in six of 11 sectors in which it was invested for the quarter. The main contributors to Strategy performance were the financials and IT sectors. The materials and industrial sectors, meanwhile, were the main laggards. You can take a look at the fund’s top 5 holdings to have an idea about their best picks for 2021.

ClearBridge Investments Dividend Strategy, in its Q3 2021 investor letter, mentioned Sempra (NYSE: SRE) and discussed its stance on the firm. Sempra is a San Diego, California-based energy infrastructure company with a $43.4 billion market capitalization. SRE delivered a 2.93% return since the beginning of the year, while its 12-month returns are up by 13.56%. The stock closed at $136.16 per share on January 06, 2022.

Here is what ClearBridge Investments Dividend Strategy has to say about Sempra  in its Q3 2021 investor letter:

“In utilities we completed the exit of WEC Energy Group to fund our newer position in Sempra Energy. Sempra embodies a similarly, wellpositioned utility but trades at a meaningfully lower valuation. We are bottom-up investors focused on assembling a diverse portfolio of high-quality companies that can compound dividends at attractive rates over the long term. The portfolio is designed to navigate any environment. The Strategy has generally participated nicely in up markets and protected capital in down markets such as we experienced in the third quarter. As the world navigates its emergence from COVID-19, we believe we are well-positioned.”

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Based on our calculations, Sempra (NYSE: SRE) was not able to clinch a spot in our list of the 30 Most Popular Stocks Among Hedge Funds. SRE was in 6 hedge fund portfolios at the end of the third quarter of 2021, compared to 6 funds in the previous quarter. Sempra (NYSE: SRE) delivered an 8.42% return in the past 3 months.

Earlier this year, we also shared another hedge fund’s views on SRE in another article. You can find more than 100 investor letters from hedge funds and prominent investors on our hedge fund investor letters 2021 Q3 page.

Disclosure: None. This article is originally published at Insider Monkey.