L & S Advisors Inc Purchases 14,338 Shares of Sempra (NYSE:SRE)

L & S Advisors Inc boosted its holdings in shares of Sempra (NYSE:SRE) by 52.6% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 41,601 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 14,338 shares during the period. L & S Advisors Inc’s holdings in Sempra were worth $3,649,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

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

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages recently commented on SRE. Jefferies Financial Group reiterated a “hold” rating and set a $77.00 price objective (down previously from $96.00) on shares of Sempra in a research report on Monday, March 3rd. Argus lowered Sempra from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 18th. Barclays lowered shares of Sempra from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and dropped their price objective for the company from $95.00 to $72.00 in a report on Thursday, February 27th. Mizuho reduced their target price on shares of Sempra from $92.00 to $76.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note 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 note on Wednesday, February 26th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $81.33.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, 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 cost of $70.96 per share, with a total value of $184,496.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 15,649 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,110,453.04. The trade was a 19.92 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, Director Michael N. Mears acquired 1,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, March 10th. The stock was bought at an average price of $67.70 per share, with a total value of $67,700.00. Following the purchase, the director now directly owns 5,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $338,500. This represents a 25.00 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders bought 9,319 shares of company stock worth $651,676. Corporate insiders own 0.24% of the company’s stock.

Sempra Price Performance

Shares of NYSE SRE opened at $69.65 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.89, a current ratio of 0.52 and a quick ratio of 0.47. The company has a market cap of $45.37 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.34, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.19 and a beta of 0.76. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $77.23 and its two-hundred day moving average is $83.13. Sempra has a 1-year low of $64.89 and a 1-year high of $95.77.

Sempra (NYSE:SRE) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, February 25th. The utilities provider reported $1.50 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates 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 prior year, the firm earned $1.13 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 7.6% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts forecast that Sempra will post 4.76 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Sempra Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 15th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, March 20th will be given a dividend of $0.645 per share. This is a boost from Sempra’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.62. This represents a $2.58 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.70%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, March 20th. Sempra’s payout ratio 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.