Sempra (NYSE:SRE) Shares Sold by Sentry Investment Management LLC

Sentry Investment Management LLC trimmed its holdings in shares of Sempra (NYSE:SRE) by 14.0% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 2,353 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 383 shares during the period. Sentry Investment Management LLC’s holdings in Sempra were worth $206,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors have also made changes to their positions in SRE. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. lifted its position in Sempra by 633.4% during the fourth quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. now owns 29,917 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $2,624,000 after purchasing an additional 25,838 shares during the period. Unigestion Holding SA purchased a new position in shares of Sempra during the 3rd quarter valued at about $33,023,000. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted its holdings in shares of Sempra by 8.8% in the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 3,428,132 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $286,695,000 after buying an additional 278,183 shares during the period. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Sempra by 1.9% in the 3rd quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 357,107 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $29,865,000 after buying an additional 6,709 shares during the period. Finally, Kovitz Investment Group Partners LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Sempra in the third quarter worth about $675,000. 89.65% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at Sempra

In other Sempra news, CEO Jeffrey W. Martin sold 49,737 shares of Sempra stock in a transaction dated 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 of the company’s stock, valued at $165.88. The trade was 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 accessible through the SEC website. Also, SVP Alexander Lisa Larroque sold 2,755 shares of the firm’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 sale, the senior vice president now owns 13,905 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,139,236.65. This represents a 16.54 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 0.24% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages recently weighed in on SRE. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price target on Sempra from $87.00 to $96.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 7th. Morgan Stanley upgraded shares of Sempra from an “equal weight” rating to an “overweight” rating and boosted their target price for the company from $85.00 to $98.00 in a research note on Friday, December 13th. Evercore ISI increased their price target on shares of Sempra from $84.00 to $88.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, November 7th. Finally, Barclays cut their price objective on shares of Sempra from $99.00 to $95.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Monday, January 27th. Ten investment analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating, Based on data from MarketBeat, Sempra presently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $91.20.

Sempra Price Performance

Sempra stock opened at $70.67 on Wednesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $44.76 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.57, a P/E/G ratio of 2.19 and a beta of 0.78. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $83.96 and its 200 day moving average price is $84.93. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.89, a quick ratio of 0.47 and a current ratio of 0.52. Sempra has a 1 year low of $64.89 and a 1 year high of $95.77.

Sempra (NYSE:SRE) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 25th. The utilities provider reported $1.50 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.47 by $0.03. The business had revenue of $3.76 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.73 billion. Sempra had a net margin of 22.63% and a return on equity of 8.06%. The company’s revenue was up 7.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm posted $1.13 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Sempra will post 4.76 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Sempra Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed 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. This is a positive change from Sempra’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.62. This represents a $2.58 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.65%. Sempra’s payout ratio is 54.63%.

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.