Sempra (NYSE:SRE) Holdings Decreased by Loomis Sayles & Co. L P

Loomis Sayles & Co. L P lessened its stake in Sempra (NYSE:SRE) by 19.3% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 851 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 203 shares during the period. Loomis Sayles & Co. L P’s holdings in Sempra were worth $75,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of SRE. State Street Corp lifted its stake in shares of Sempra by 4.9% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 32,940,620 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $2,774,974,000 after acquiring an additional 1,539,026 shares during the period. Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new stake in Sempra during the fourth quarter worth approximately $123,614,000. KLP Kapitalforvaltning AS acquired a new stake in Sempra in the fourth quarter worth approximately $43,956,000. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in Sempra by 0.8% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 63,018,055 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $5,527,944,000 after purchasing an additional 490,269 shares during the period. Finally, National Bank of Canada FI boosted its stake in Sempra by 201.2% during the 3rd quarter. National Bank of Canada FI now owns 620,394 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $51,882,000 after purchasing an additional 414,406 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 89.65% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts have recently commented on SRE shares. The Goldman Sachs Group downgraded Sempra from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and dropped their price objective for the stock from $99.00 to $76.00 in a research note on Wednesday, February 26th. Barclays cut shares of Sempra from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and dropped their price target for the stock from $95.00 to $72.00 in a research report on Thursday, February 27th. Mizuho reduced their price objective on shares of Sempra from $92.00 to $76.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, February 26th. Jefferies Financial Group reiterated a “hold” rating and issued a $77.00 target price (down from $96.00) on shares of Sempra in a report on Monday, March 3rd. Finally, Morgan Stanley raised their price objective on Sempra from $85.00 to $86.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 20th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Sempra has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $81.33.

Sempra Price Performance

NYSE SRE opened at $69.65 on Monday. 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 $45.37 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.34, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.19 and a beta of 0.76. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $77.23 and a 200-day simple moving average of $83.15. Sempra has a 52-week low of $64.89 and a 52-week high of $95.77.

Sempra (NYSE:SRE) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 25th. The utilities provider reported $1.50 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.47 by $0.03. The firm had revenue of $3.76 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.73 billion. Sempra had a net margin of 22.63% and a return on equity of 8.06%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $1.13 EPS. Equities research analysts predict 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. Investors of record on Thursday, March 20th will be given a dividend of $0.645 per share. This is a boost from Sempra’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.62. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, March 20th. This represents a $2.58 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.70%. Sempra’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 58.37%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Sempra

In related news, CEO Jeffrey W. Martin sold 49,737 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 owns 2 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $165.88. This trade represents a 100.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director Michael N. Mears bought 1,000 shares of Sempra stock in a transaction on Monday, March 10th. The stock was acquired at an average price of $67.70 per share, with a total value of $67,700.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the director now directly owns 5,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $338,500. The trade was a 25.00 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Insiders have bought 9,319 shares of company stock worth $651,676 over the last 90 days. 0.24% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.