Capital Analysts LLC Grows Stake in Sempra (NYSE:SRE)

Capital Analysts LLC boosted its position in Sempra (NYSE:SRE) by 61.1% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 857 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 325 shares during the period. Capital Analysts LLC’s holdings in Sempra were worth $75,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in Sempra during the 4th quarter valued at $1,535,000,000. Wellington Management Group LLP grew its holdings in Sempra by 11.9% during the 4th quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 38,407,154 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $3,369,076,000 after buying an additional 4,082,261 shares during the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. grew its holdings in Sempra by 70.6% during the 4th quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 6,666,240 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $584,763,000 after buying an additional 2,758,037 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC grew its holdings in Sempra by 8.0% during the 4th quarter. FMR LLC now owns 20,489,918 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,797,376,000 after buying an additional 1,511,313 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new stake in Sempra during the 4th quarter valued at $123,614,000. 89.65% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

SRE has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. Citigroup lowered their target price on Sempra from $93.00 to $70.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, April 9th. UBS Group cut Sempra from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and decreased their price objective for the stock from $95.00 to $78.00 in a report on Wednesday, February 26th. Guggenheim decreased their price objective on Sempra from $95.00 to $87.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, February 26th. Argus cut Sempra from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 18th. Finally, Morgan Stanley set a $89.00 price objective on Sempra and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, April 23rd. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $80.54.

Sempra Stock Up 1.3 %

SRE opened at $75.63 on Tuesday. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $71.13 and a 200 day moving average price of $81.09. The company has a market cap of $49.30 billion, a PE ratio of 16.66, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.19 and a beta of 0.65. Sempra has a 1 year low of $61.90 and a 1 year high of $95.77. 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 data on Tuesday, February 25th. The utilities provider reported $1.50 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.47 by $0.03. Sempra had a net margin of 22.63% and a return on equity of 8.06%. The company had revenue of $3.76 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.73 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $1.13 earnings per share. Sempra’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.6% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts expect that Sempra will post 4.76 earnings per share for the current year.

Sempra Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, April 15th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, March 20th were paid a dividend of $0.645 per share. This is a boost from Sempra’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.62. This represents a $2.58 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.41%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, March 20th. Sempra’s dividend payout ratio is 58.37%.

Insider Activity

In other news, SVP Alexander Lisa Larroque sold 2,755 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $81.93, for a total transaction of $225,717.15. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 13,905 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,139,236.65. This represents a 16.54 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Jeffrey W. Martin sold 49,737 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 2 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $165.88. This trade represents a 100.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders acquired 9,319 shares of company stock worth $651,676 and sold 57,309 shares worth $4,694,019. Company 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.