Blair William & Co. IL Grows Stake in Sempra (NYSE:SRE)

Blair William & Co. IL lifted its stake in shares of Sempra (NYSE:SRE) by 2.6% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 35,462 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 903 shares during the period. Blair William & Co. IL’s holdings in Sempra were worth $3,111,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec raised its stake in shares of Sempra by 6.0% in the third quarter. Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec now owns 5,290 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $442,000 after buying an additional 300 shares during the period. Erste Asset Management GmbH bought a new stake in Sempra in the 3rd quarter valued at about $2,707,000. Kestra Investment Management LLC purchased a new stake in Sempra during the third quarter valued at about $247,000. Benjamin Edwards Inc. boosted its position in Sempra by 520.1% during the third quarter. Benjamin Edwards Inc. now owns 24,227 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $2,026,000 after purchasing an additional 20,320 shares during the period. Finally, Cinctive Capital Management LP purchased a new position in shares of Sempra in the third quarter worth about $15,915,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 89.65% of the company’s stock.

Sempra Stock Up 2.4 %

SRE stock opened at $71.38 on Tuesday. The company’s 50 day moving average is $76.95 and its 200 day moving average is $83.07. The stock has a market cap of $46.50 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.72, 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 issued 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 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 quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $1.13 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.6% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts predict that Sempra will post 4.76 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Sempra Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 15th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, March 20th will be paid a dividend of $0.645 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, March 20th. This represents a $2.58 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.61%. This is a positive change from Sempra’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.62. Sempra’s payout ratio is 58.37%.

Insider Transactions at Sempra

In other Sempra news, Director Pablo Ferrero purchased 2,600 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, March 17th. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $70.96 per share, for a total transaction 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. This represents a 19.92 % increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, SVP Alexander Lisa Larroque sold 2,755 shares of Sempra stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $81.93, for a total value of $225,717.15. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 13,905 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,139,236.65. This represents a 16.54 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders bought 9,319 shares of company stock worth $651,676. 0.24% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts recently commented on SRE shares. BMO Capital Markets cut their price objective on shares of Sempra from $92.00 to $78.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, March 4th. Argus lowered Sempra from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 18th. The Goldman Sachs Group cut Sempra from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and reduced their price target for the company from $99.00 to $76.00 in a research report on Wednesday, February 26th. Morgan Stanley increased their price objective on Sempra from $85.00 to $86.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, March 20th. Finally, Barclays lowered Sempra from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and reduced their target price for the company from $95.00 to $72.00 in a report on Thursday, February 27th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $81.33.

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.