Ipsen Advisor Group LLC Invests $736,000 in Sempra (NYSE:SRE)

Ipsen Advisor Group LLC bought a new stake in Sempra (NYSE:SRE) during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm bought 8,391 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $736,000.

A number of other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Crews Bank & Trust acquired a new stake in shares of Sempra in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $26,000. Synergy Investment Management LLC acquired a new stake in Sempra during the fourth quarter worth about $29,000. TCTC Holdings LLC increased its stake in Sempra by 265.2% in the fourth quarter. TCTC Holdings LLC now owns 336 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $29,000 after acquiring an additional 244 shares during the last quarter. Human Investing LLC bought a new stake in shares of Sempra during the 4th quarter worth $31,000. Finally, ST Germain D J Co. Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Sempra by 225.6% in the 4th quarter. ST Germain D J Co. Inc. now owns 433 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $38,000 after purchasing an additional 300 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 89.65% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

SRE has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. BMO Capital Markets decreased their price objective on Sempra from $92.00 to $78.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, March 4th. Mizuho decreased their target price on shares of Sempra from $92.00 to $76.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, February 26th. The Goldman Sachs Group cut shares of Sempra from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and dropped their target price for the stock from $99.00 to $76.00 in a research report on Wednesday, February 26th. UBS Group downgraded shares of Sempra from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and reduced their target price for the company from $95.00 to $78.00 in a research report on Wednesday, February 26th. Finally, Morgan Stanley boosted their price objective on Sempra from $85.00 to $86.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 20th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Sempra has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $81.58.

Sempra Price Performance

Shares of Sempra stock opened at $69.30 on Wednesday. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $78.05 and its 200 day moving average is $83.40. Sempra has a one year low of $64.89 and a one 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. The stock has a market cap of $45.15 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.26, a P/E/G ratio of 2.19 and a beta of 0.76.

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

Sempra Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 15th. Investors of record on Thursday, March 20th will be paid a $0.645 dividend. This is an increase from Sempra’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.62. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, March 20th. This represents a $2.58 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.72%. Sempra’s payout ratio is 58.37%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director Cynthia J. Warner purchased 700 shares of Sempra stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 6th. The stock was bought at an average cost of $70.65 per share, for a total transaction of $49,455.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 8,759 shares in the company, valued at $618,823.35. The trade was a 8.69 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, CEO Jeffrey W. Martin sold 49,737 shares of the firm’s 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 sale, the chief executive officer now owns 2 shares in the company, valued at $165.88. This trade represents a 100.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders purchased 9,319 shares of company stock worth $651,676 in the last three months. 0.24% of the stock is owned by insiders.

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.