Amundi Acquires 333,447 Shares of Sempra (NYSE:SRE)

Amundi boosted its holdings in Sempra (NYSE:SRE) by 23.8% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 1,736,337 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 333,447 shares during the quarter. Amundi owned about 0.27% of Sempra worth $143,803,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in SRE. QRG Capital Management Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Sempra by 11.2% during the third quarter. QRG Capital Management Inc. now owns 5,871 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $491,000 after purchasing an additional 589 shares during the period. SpiderRock Advisors LLC raised its stake in Sempra by 4.8% during the 3rd quarter. SpiderRock Advisors LLC now owns 10,253 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $857,000 after buying an additional 472 shares during the period. Atria Investments Inc raised its stake in Sempra by 6.4% during the 3rd quarter. Atria Investments Inc now owns 47,986 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $4,013,000 after buying an additional 2,888 shares during the period. Axxcess Wealth Management LLC boosted its holdings in Sempra by 56.6% in the third quarter. Axxcess Wealth Management LLC now owns 24,923 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $2,084,000 after acquiring an additional 9,012 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Legacy Capital Wealth Partners LLC grew its stake in Sempra by 2.4% in the third quarter. Legacy Capital Wealth Partners LLC now owns 7,149 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $598,000 after acquiring an additional 170 shares during the period. 89.65% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Sempra news, SVP Alexander Lisa Larroque sold 2,755 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on 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 sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 13,905 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,139,236.65. This trade represents a 16.54 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, Director Cynthia J. Warner purchased 700 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 6th. The shares were purchased at an average cost of $70.65 per share, for a total transaction of $49,455.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 8,759 shares in the company, valued at approximately $618,823.35. The trade was a 8.69 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Insiders own 0.24% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts have recently weighed in on SRE shares. Mizuho lowered their target price on Sempra from $92.00 to $76.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, February 26th. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price objective on shares of Sempra from $96.00 to $88.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, February 26th. Morgan Stanley reduced their price objective on shares of Sempra from $100.00 to $85.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, February 26th. UBS Group downgraded shares of Sempra from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and decreased their target price for the stock from $95.00 to $78.00 in a research report on Wednesday, February 26th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group cut shares of Sempra from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and dropped their price target for the company from $99.00 to $76.00 in a research report on Wednesday, February 26th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Sempra presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $81.50.

Sempra Price Performance

Shares of NYSE SRE opened at $69.47 on Tuesday. The company has a market capitalization of $45.26 billion, a PE ratio of 15.30, a PEG ratio of 2.19 and a beta of 0.76. The company has a quick ratio of 0.47, a current ratio of 0.52 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.89. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $81.06 and its 200-day moving average price is $84.36. Sempra has a twelve month low of $64.89 and a twelve month high of $95.77.

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

Sempra Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 15th. Investors of record on Thursday, March 20th will be issued a dividend of $0.645 per share. This represents a $2.58 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.71%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, March 20th. This is an increase from Sempra’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.62. Sempra’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 58.37%.

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.