FIL Ltd Cuts Stake in Sempra (NYSE:SRE)

FIL Ltd lessened its stake in shares of Sempra (NYSE:SRE) by 3.8% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 2,096,726 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 83,645 shares during the quarter. FIL Ltd’s holdings in Sempra were worth $183,925,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. increased its stake in shares of Sempra by 633.4% during the 4th quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. now owns 29,917 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $2,624,000 after purchasing an additional 25,838 shares during the last quarter. Unigestion Holding SA bought a new position in Sempra during the third quarter valued at $33,023,000. L & S Advisors Inc increased its position in Sempra by 52.6% in the fourth quarter. L & S Advisors Inc now owns 41,601 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $3,649,000 after buying an additional 14,338 shares during the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its position in Sempra by 8.8% in the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 3,428,132 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $286,695,000 after buying an additional 278,183 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Kovitz Investment Group Partners LLC bought a new stake in shares of Sempra in the third quarter valued at $675,000. Institutional investors own 89.65% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In other Sempra news, CEO Jeffrey W. Martin sold 49,737 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred 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 transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2 shares in the company, valued at $165.88. This trade represents a 100.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, SVP Alexander Lisa Larroque sold 2,755 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $81.93, for a total transaction of $225,717.15. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now owns 13,905 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,139,236.65. The trade was a 16.54 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have bought 9,319 shares of company stock worth $651,676 and have sold 57,309 shares worth $4,694,019. Corporate insiders own 0.24% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts have recently weighed in on SRE shares. Jefferies Financial Group reissued a “hold” rating and issued a $77.00 price objective (down previously from $96.00) on shares of Sempra in a report on Monday, March 3rd. Argus lowered shares of Sempra from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 18th. Barclays cut shares of Sempra from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and dropped their price target for the company from $95.00 to $72.00 in a research note on Thursday, February 27th. BMO Capital Markets reduced their price objective on shares of Sempra from $92.00 to $78.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, March 4th. Finally, Morgan Stanley increased their target price on Sempra from $85.00 to $86.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 20th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $81.33.

Sempra Stock Down 0.4 %

SRE stock opened at $63.67 on Wednesday. Sempra has a 1-year low of $61.90 and a 1-year high of $95.77. The stock has a market cap of $41.51 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.02, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.19 and a beta of 0.65. The company has a current ratio of 0.52, a quick ratio of 0.47 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.89. The company’s 50 day moving average is $74.78 and its 200 day moving average is $82.30.

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, beating the consensus estimate 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 analysts’ expectations of $4.73 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $1.13 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 7.6% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts predict 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 issued a $0.645 dividend. This is a boost from Sempra’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.62. This represents a $2.58 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 4.05%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, March 20th. Sempra’s dividend payout ratio is presently 58.37%.

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.