Allianz SE Acquires New Stake in Sempra (NYSE:SRE)

Allianz SE bought a new position in shares of Sempra (NYSE:SRE) during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund bought 121,190 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $10,586,000.

Several other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in SRE. Allstate Corp purchased a new stake in shares of Sempra during the 4th quarter valued at $1,662,000. Maridea Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in Sempra in the fourth quarter worth $282,000. DnB Asset Management AS raised its position in shares of Sempra by 2.2% in the 4th quarter. DnB Asset Management AS now owns 337,765 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $29,629,000 after acquiring an additional 7,395 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new position in Sempra during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $1,535,000,000. Finally, Blair William & Co. IL raised its position in shares of Sempra by 2.6% in the 4th quarter. Blair William & Co. IL now owns 35,462 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $3,111,000 after purchasing an additional 903 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 89.65% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on SRE shares. Argus cut shares of Sempra from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 18th. BMO Capital Markets lowered their price objective on shares of Sempra from $92.00 to $78.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, March 4th. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price objective on shares of Sempra from $88.00 to $85.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday. Jefferies Financial Group reiterated a “hold” rating and set a $77.00 target price (down from $96.00) on shares of Sempra in a research report on Monday, March 3rd. Finally, UBS Group lowered Sempra from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and cut their price target for the company from $95.00 to $78.00 in a research note on Wednesday, February 26th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $81.33.

Sempra Stock Performance

Shares of SRE stock opened at $69.65 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $45.37 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.34, a P/E/G ratio of 2.19 and a beta of 0.76. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.89, a current ratio of 0.52 and a quick ratio of 0.47. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $77.23 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $83.13. Sempra has a 12 month low of $64.89 and a 12 month high of $95.77.

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

Sempra Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 15th. Investors of record on Thursday, March 20th will be paid a dividend of $0.645 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, March 20th. This represents a $2.58 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.70%. This is a boost from Sempra’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.62. Sempra’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 58.37%.

Insider Transactions at Sempra

In other news, Director Cynthia J. Warner acquired 700 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 6th. The shares were bought at an average price of $70.65 per share, with a total value of $49,455.00. Following the acquisition, the director now owns 8,759 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $618,823.35. This trade represents a 8.69 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CEO Jeffrey W. Martin sold 49,737 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, January 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $82.94, for a total transaction of $4,125,186.78. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $165.88. This trade represents a 100.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have bought a total of 9,319 shares of company stock valued at $651,676 over the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 0.24% of the company’s stock.

About Sempra

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.