9,350 Shares in Sempra (NYSE:SRE) Purchased by Mufg Securities Americas Inc.

Mufg Securities Americas Inc. acquired a new position in Sempra (NYSE:SRE) during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund acquired 9,350 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $820,000.

Several other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of SRE. Crews Bank & Trust acquired a new stake in shares of Sempra in the fourth quarter worth approximately $26,000. Prudent Man Investment Management Inc. purchased a new position in Sempra in the 4th quarter valued at $26,000. Synergy Investment Management LLC acquired a new stake in Sempra during the 4th quarter worth $29,000. TCTC Holdings LLC grew its holdings in shares of Sempra by 265.2% during the fourth quarter. TCTC Holdings LLC now owns 336 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $29,000 after buying an additional 244 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Meeder Asset Management Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Sempra during the fourth quarter worth $29,000. 89.65% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Morgan Stanley set a $89.00 price target on shares of Sempra and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, April 23rd. Mizuho decreased their target price 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. The Goldman Sachs Group lowered Sempra from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and dropped their price target for the company from $99.00 to $76.00 in a research report on Wednesday, February 26th. UBS Group cut Sempra from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and cut their price target for the company from $95.00 to $78.00 in a report on Wednesday, February 26th. Finally, Barclays lowered Sempra from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and lowered their price objective for the stock from $95.00 to $72.00 in a research note on Thursday, February 27th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Sempra presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $80.77.

Insider Activity at Sempra

In other news, Director Michael N. Mears acquired 1,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 10th. The shares were purchased at an average price of $67.70 per share, for a total transaction of $67,700.00. Following the acquisition, the director now owns 5,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $338,500. This represents a 25.00% increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, insider Diana L. Day sold 8,015 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, May 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $74.26, for a total value of $595,193.90. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 16,969 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,260,117.94. This trade represents a 32.08% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders purchased 9,319 shares of company stock worth $651,676. Insiders own 0.27% of the company’s stock.

Sempra Stock Performance

Shares of Sempra stock opened at $74.89 on Thursday. The firm has a market cap of $48.82 billion, a PE ratio of 16.50, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.19 and a beta of 0.63. The company has a quick ratio of 0.47, a current ratio of 0.52 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.89. Sempra has a 52 week low of $61.90 and a 52 week high of $95.77. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $71.20 and its 200-day simple moving average is $80.33.

Sempra (NYSE:SRE) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, May 8th. The utilities provider reported $1.44 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.32 by $0.12. The company had revenue of $3.80 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $3.90 billion. Sempra had a net margin of 22.63% and a return on equity of 8.06%. Sempra’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $1.34 earnings per share. Equities analysts forecast that Sempra will post 4.76 earnings per share for the current year.

Sempra Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, April 15th. Investors of record on Thursday, March 20th were given a dividend of $0.645 per share. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, March 20th. This represents a $2.58 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.45%. This is a boost from Sempra’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.62. Sempra’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 56.70%.

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.