Chesapeake Capital Corp IL Reduces Position in Sempra (NYSE:SRE)

Chesapeake Capital Corp IL cut its position in Sempra (NYSE:SRE) by 56.2% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 3,516 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 4,504 shares during the period. Chesapeake Capital Corp IL’s holdings in Sempra were worth $308,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. VSM Wealth Advisory LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Sempra in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $44,000. Enhancing Capital LLC purchased a new position in shares of Sempra in the 4th quarter valued at $1,632,000. Xponance Inc. grew its position in shares of Sempra by 8.2% in the 4th quarter. Xponance Inc. now owns 105,696 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $9,272,000 after buying an additional 8,047 shares during the last quarter. Generali Asset Management SPA SGR purchased a new position in shares of Sempra in the 4th quarter valued at $8,817,000. Finally, Evoke Wealth LLC grew its position in shares of Sempra by 14.4% in the 4th quarter. Evoke Wealth LLC now owns 27,220 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $2,402,000 after buying an additional 3,420 shares during the last quarter. 89.65% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Sempra Stock Down 0.4 %

SRE stock opened at $70.74 on Wednesday. Sempra has a one year low of $64.89 and a one year high of $95.77. The stock has a market capitalization of $46.09 billion, a PE ratio of 15.58, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.19 and a beta of 0.76. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.89, a quick ratio of 0.47 and a current ratio of 0.52. The company has a fifty day moving average of $79.04 and a 200-day moving average of $83.84.

Sempra (NYSE:SRE) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, February 25th. The utilities provider reported $1.50 EPS for the quarter, topping 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 company had revenue of $3.76 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.73 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $1.13 EPS. The business’s revenue was up 7.6% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts expect 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. Stockholders of record on Thursday, March 20th will be paid a $0.645 dividend. This represents a $2.58 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.65%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, March 20th. This is a boost from Sempra’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.62. Sempra’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 58.37%.

Insider Transactions at Sempra

In related news, CEO Jeffrey W. Martin sold 49,737 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, January 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $82.94, for a total value of $4,125,186.78. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now 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 document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, Director Pablo Ferrero acquired 2,600 shares of Sempra stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 17th. The stock was bought at an average price of $70.96 per share, with a total value of $184,496.00. Following the purchase, the director now directly owns 15,649 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $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. In the last quarter, insiders bought 9,319 shares of company stock worth $651,676. Company insiders own 0.24% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

SRE has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Barclays downgraded shares of Sempra from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and dropped their target price for the company from $95.00 to $72.00 in a research report on Thursday, February 27th. Guggenheim dropped their target price on shares of Sempra from $95.00 to $87.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, February 26th. Argus downgraded shares of Sempra from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday. The Goldman Sachs Group downgraded shares of Sempra from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and dropped their target price for the company from $99.00 to $76.00 in a research report on Wednesday, February 26th. Finally, UBS Group cut shares of Sempra from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and decreased their price target for the stock from $95.00 to $78.00 in a research note on Wednesday, February 26th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $81.50.

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.