Sempra (NYSE:SRE) Shares Acquired by TCTC Holdings LLC

TCTC Holdings LLC lifted its position in shares of Sempra (NYSE:SRE) by 265.2% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 336 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 244 shares during the period. TCTC Holdings LLC’s holdings in Sempra were worth $29,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. grew 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 period. Unigestion Holding SA acquired a new stake in Sempra in the 3rd quarter valued at $33,023,000. JPMorgan Chase & Co. grew its stake in 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 acquiring an additional 278,183 shares during the period. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. grew its stake in 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 acquiring an additional 6,709 shares during the period. Finally, Kovitz Investment Group Partners LLC acquired a new stake in Sempra in the 3rd quarter valued at $675,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 89.65% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

SRE has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Mizuho dropped their price target on shares of Sempra from $92.00 to $76.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, February 26th. Jefferies Financial Group reissued a “hold” rating and issued a $77.00 price target (down previously from $96.00) on shares of Sempra in a research note on Monday, March 3rd. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price objective on Sempra from $96.00 to $88.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, February 26th. Barclays lowered Sempra from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and decreased their price objective for the company from $95.00 to $72.00 in a report on Thursday, February 27th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group lowered Sempra from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and decreased their price objective for the company from $99.00 to $76.00 in a report on Wednesday, February 26th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $81.50.

Insider Transactions at Sempra

In related news, Director Pablo Ferrero acquired 2,600 shares of Sempra stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 17th. The shares were purchased at an average cost of $70.96 per share, for a total transaction of $184,496.00. Following the acquisition, the director now owns 15,649 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,110,453.04. This represents a 19.92 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CEO Jeffrey W. Martin sold 49,737 shares of the business’s 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 completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 2 shares in the company, valued at approximately $165.88. This trade represents a 100.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have purchased a total of 9,319 shares of company stock worth $651,676 in the last quarter. Company insiders own 0.24% of the company’s stock.

Sempra Stock Up 1.2 %

NYSE SRE opened at $71.03 on Tuesday. Sempra has a 52 week low of $64.89 and a 52 week high of $95.77. The company has a quick ratio of 0.47, a current ratio of 0.52 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.89. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $79.31 and its 200-day simple moving average is $83.92. The firm has a market cap of $46.27 billion, a PE ratio of 15.65, a P/E/G ratio of 2.19 and a beta of 0.76.

Sempra (NYSE:SRE) last posted its quarterly 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 return on equity of 8.06% and a net margin of 22.63%. The business had revenue of $3.76 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.73 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $1.13 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 7.6% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Sempra will post 4.76 earnings per share for the current year.

Sempra Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 15th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, March 20th will be issued a dividend of $0.645 per share. This represents a $2.58 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.63%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, March 20th. This is a positive change from Sempra’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.62. Sempra’s payout ratio is currently 58.37%.

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.