Bank Julius Baer & Co. Ltd Zurich Grows Position in Sempra (NYSE:SRE)

Bank Julius Baer & Co. Ltd Zurich grew its stake in Sempra (NYSE:SRE) by 64.1% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 77,124 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 30,134 shares during the period. Bank Julius Baer & Co. Ltd Zurich’s holdings in Sempra were worth $6,746,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of SRE. QRG Capital Management Inc. boosted its position in Sempra by 11.2% in the 3rd quarter. QRG Capital Management Inc. now owns 5,871 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $491,000 after purchasing an additional 589 shares in the last quarter. Hollencrest Capital Management boosted its position in Sempra by 250.0% in the 3rd quarter. Hollencrest Capital Management now owns 378 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $32,000 after purchasing an additional 270 shares in the last quarter. SpiderRock Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of Sempra by 4.8% during the 3rd quarter. SpiderRock Advisors LLC now owns 10,253 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $857,000 after buying an additional 472 shares in the last quarter. Assetmark Inc. lifted its position in shares of Sempra by 3.2% during the 3rd quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 423,940 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $35,454,000 after buying an additional 12,966 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Atria Investments Inc raised its stake in Sempra by 6.4% in the 3rd quarter. Atria Investments Inc now owns 47,986 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $4,013,000 after purchasing an additional 2,888 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 89.65% of the company’s stock.

Sempra Stock Performance

Shares of Sempra stock opened at $69.23 on Monday. The business has a 50-day moving average of $81.42 and a 200 day moving average of $84.44. Sempra has a 12 month low of $64.89 and a 12 month high of $95.77. The stock has a market capitalization of $45.10 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.25, a price-to-earnings-growth 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.

Sempra (NYSE:SRE) last announced its earnings results on Tuesday, February 25th. The utilities provider reported $1.50 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.47 by $0.03. Sempra had a return on equity of 8.06% and a net margin of 22.63%. The company had revenue of $3.76 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.73 billion. During the same period last year, the business posted $1.13 EPS. Sempra’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.6% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Sempra will post 4.76 earnings per share for the current year.

Sempra Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 15th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, March 20th will be paid a $0.645 dividend. This represents a $2.58 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.73%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, March 20th. This is a boost from Sempra’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.62. Sempra’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 58.37%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have issued reports on SRE. UBS Group downgraded 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 research note on Wednesday, February 26th. Jefferies Financial Group reaffirmed a “hold” rating and issued a $77.00 target price (down from $96.00) on shares of Sempra in a research note on Monday, March 3rd. Morgan Stanley cut their price objective on Sempra from $100.00 to $85.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, February 26th. Mizuho cut their price objective on Sempra from $92.00 to $76.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, February 26th. Finally, Barclays downgraded Sempra from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and cut their price objective for the stock from $95.00 to $72.00 in a research report on Thursday, February 27th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Sempra currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $81.50.

Insider Activity

In other news, SVP Alexander Lisa Larroque sold 2,755 shares of Sempra stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 11th. The stock was 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 in the company, valued at approximately $1,139,236.65. This trade represents a 16.54 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. 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 value of $4,125,186.78. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 2 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $165.88. The trade was 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 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.