Flputnam Investment Management Co. Acquires 252 Shares of Sempra (NYSE:SRE)

Flputnam Investment Management Co. raised its holdings in Sempra (NYSE:SRE) by 0.5% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 53,982 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 252 shares during the quarter. Flputnam Investment Management Co.’s holdings in Sempra were worth $4,735,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of SRE. Private Advisor Group LLC boosted its stake in Sempra by 1.6% in the third quarter. Private Advisor Group LLC now owns 8,742 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $731,000 after acquiring an additional 139 shares during the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC boosted its stake in Sempra by 8,093.4% in the third quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 52,520 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $4,392,000 after acquiring an additional 51,879 shares during the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. boosted its stake in Sempra by 17.8% in the third quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 17,804 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,489,000 after acquiring an additional 2,693 shares during the last quarter. Pinnacle Associates Ltd. acquired a new stake in Sempra in the third quarter worth $248,000. Finally, Farther Finance Advisors LLC raised its holdings in Sempra by 9.4% in the third quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 6,666 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $557,000 after purchasing an additional 572 shares during the period. 89.65% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have weighed in on SRE. Wells Fargo & Company cut their target price on shares of Sempra from $96.00 to $88.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday. Guggenheim cut their target price on shares of Sempra from $95.00 to $87.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday. The Goldman Sachs Group lowered shares of Sempra from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and cut their target price for the stock from $99.00 to $76.00 in a report on Wednesday. UBS Group lowered shares of Sempra from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and cut their target price for the stock from $95.00 to $78.00 in a report on Wednesday. Finally, Barclays lowered shares of Sempra from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and cut their target price for the stock from $95.00 to $72.00 in a report on Thursday. Three analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and ten have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Sempra currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $84.54.

Sempra Stock Down 0.6 %

Shares of SRE stock opened at $71.50 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 0.52, a quick ratio of 0.47 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.89. Sempra has a 1 year low of $64.89 and a 1 year high of $95.77. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $83.13 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $84.75. The firm has a market capitalization of $45.29 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.75, a PEG ratio of 2.19 and a beta of 0.78.

Sempra (NYSE:SRE) last issued its quarterly earnings results 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 firm had revenue of $3.76 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.73 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $1.13 EPS. The company’s revenue was up 7.6% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts predict that Sempra will post 4.76 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Sempra Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 15th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, March 20th will be paid a $0.645 dividend. This is a positive change from Sempra’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.62. This represents a $2.58 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.61%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, March 20th. Sempra’s payout ratio is presently 56.11%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Sempra

In other news, SVP Alexander Lisa Larroque sold 2,755 shares of Sempra stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $81.93, for a total value of $225,717.15. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 13,905 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,139,236.65. This trade represents a 16.54 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, CEO Jeffrey W. Martin sold 49,737 shares of Sempra stock in a transaction dated Thursday, January 30th. The shares were 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 approximately $165.88. This trade represents a 100.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 0.24% 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.