By otakuyassine3@gmail.com 
Proficio Capital Partners LLC acquired a new stake in Sempra (NYSE:SRE – Free Report) in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund acquired 168,265 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $14,760,000.
Other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Apollon Wealth Management LLC raised its position in shares of Sempra by 6.6% in the 3rd quarter. Apollon Wealth Management LLC now owns 10,883 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $910,000 after buying an additional 677 shares in the last quarter. Prime Capital Investment Advisors LLC raised its position in shares of Sempra by 23.4% in the 3rd quarter. Prime Capital Investment Advisors LLC now owns 14,452 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,209,000 after buying an additional 2,745 shares in the last quarter. Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. raised its position in shares of Sempra by 1.3% in the 3rd quarter. Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. now owns 37,172 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $3,109,000 after buying an additional 466 shares in the last quarter. KBC Group NV raised its position in shares of Sempra by 4.8% in the 3rd quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 288,569 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $24,133,000 after buying an additional 13,118 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Zions Bancorporation N.A. raised its position in shares of Sempra by 23.2% in the 3rd quarter. Zions Bancorporation N.A. now owns 8,972 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $750,000 after buying an additional 1,687 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 89.65% of the company’s stock.
Sempra Trading Up 3.6 %
SRE opened at $70.30 on Friday. Sempra has a fifty-two week low of $64.89 and a fifty-two week high of $95.77. 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 firm has a market capitalization of $45.80 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.48, a PEG ratio of 2.19 and a beta of 0.76. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $79.57 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $83.97.
Sempra (NYSE:SRE – Get Free Report) last posted 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 previous year, the firm posted $1.13 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.6% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts predict that Sempra will post 4.76 earnings per share for the current year.
Sempra Increases Dividend
The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 15th. Shareholders 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 3.67%. This is a positive change from Sempra’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.62. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, March 20th. Sempra’s payout ratio is presently 58.37%.
Insiders Place Their Bets
In other news, Director James C. Yardley acquired 5,019 shares of Sempra stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 12th. The shares were bought at an average cost of $69.74 per share, with a total value of $350,025.06. Following the purchase, the director now owns 5,019 shares in the company, valued at $350,025.06. This trade represents a ∞ increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, SVP Alexander Lisa Larroque sold 2,755 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 11th. The shares were 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 directly owns 13,905 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,139,236.65. This represents a 16.54 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have acquired 6,719 shares of company stock valued at $467,180 in the last ninety days. 0.27% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.
Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth
Several equities analysts have recently commented on the stock. Morgan Stanley dropped their target price on shares of Sempra from $100.00 to $85.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, February 26th. Guggenheim dropped their target price on shares of Sempra from $95.00 to $87.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, February 26th. UBS Group cut shares of Sempra from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and lowered their price objective for the stock from $95.00 to $78.00 in a research report on Wednesday, February 26th. BMO Capital Markets lowered their price objective on shares of Sempra from $92.00 to $78.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, March 4th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price objective on shares of Sempra from $96.00 to $88.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, February 26th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Sempra currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $81.50.
View Our Latest Stock Report on Sempra
Sempra 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.
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