Allianz SE Takes $10.59 Million Position in Sempra (NYSE:SRE)

Allianz SE acquired a new stake in Sempra (NYSE:SRE) in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm acquired 121,190 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $10,586,000.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Allstate Corp purchased a new stake in shares of Sempra in the 4th quarter worth about $1,662,000. Maridea Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Sempra during the 4th quarter worth approximately $282,000. DnB Asset Management AS raised its position in shares of Sempra by 2.2% during the 4th quarter. DnB Asset Management AS now owns 337,765 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $29,629,000 after purchasing an additional 7,395 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new position in Sempra during the fourth quarter worth $1,535,000,000. Finally, Blair William & Co. IL lifted its position in shares of Sempra by 2.6% in the fourth quarter. Blair William & Co. IL now owns 35,462 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $3,111,000 after acquiring an additional 903 shares in the last quarter. 89.65% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

SRE has been the topic of several analyst reports. Jefferies Financial Group reaffirmed a “hold” rating and set a $77.00 price target (down from $96.00) on shares of Sempra in a research note on Monday, March 3rd. UBS Group cut shares of Sempra from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and lowered their price objective for the company from $95.00 to $78.00 in a research note on Wednesday, February 26th. Argus cut Sempra from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 18th. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their target price on Sempra from $88.00 to $85.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday. Finally, 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 research note on Wednesday, February 26th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $81.33.

Sempra Trading Down 0.6 %

Shares of SRE stock opened at $69.65 on Friday. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $77.23 and its 200 day simple moving average is $83.13. The firm has a market capitalization of $45.37 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.34, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.19 and a beta of 0.76. 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.

Sempra (NYSE:SRE) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 25th. The utilities provider reported $1.50 EPS for the quarter, topping 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 business had revenue of $3.76 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.73 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $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 predict that Sempra will post 4.76 EPS for the current year.

Sempra Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced 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 represents a $2.58 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.70%. 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 is presently 58.37%.

Insider Activity at Sempra

In other Sempra news, CEO Jeffrey W. Martin sold 49,737 shares of Sempra stock in a transaction on 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 $165.88. The trade was a 100.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Director Pablo Ferrero purchased 2,600 shares of Sempra stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 17th. The stock was purchased at an average price of $70.96 per share, with a total value of $184,496.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the director now directly owns 15,649 shares in the company, valued at $1,110,453.04. This trade represents a 19.92 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Insiders bought a total of 9,319 shares of company stock worth $651,676 in the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 0.24% of the company’s stock.

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.