Fourth Dimension Wealth LLC Makes New Investment in Sempra (NYSE:SRE)

Fourth Dimension Wealth LLC bought a new position in shares of Sempra (NYSE:SRE) during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm bought 812 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $71,000.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. lifted its holdings in 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 buying an additional 25,838 shares during the period. L & S Advisors Inc lifted its holdings in Sempra by 52.6% during the 4th quarter. L & S Advisors Inc now owns 41,601 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $3,649,000 after buying an additional 14,338 shares during the period. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted its holdings in Sempra by 8.8% during the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 3,428,132 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $286,695,000 after buying an additional 278,183 shares during the period. Empower Advisory Group LLC lifted its holdings in Sempra by 2.6% during the 4th quarter. Empower Advisory Group LLC now owns 1,071,091 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $93,956,000 after buying an additional 26,821 shares during the period. Finally, Principal Securities Inc. lifted its holdings in Sempra by 11.7% during the 4th quarter. Principal Securities Inc. now owns 9,479 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $831,000 after buying an additional 990 shares during the period. 89.65% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Sempra Stock Performance

Shares of Sempra stock opened at $77.71 on Friday. Sempra has a one year low of $61.90 and a one year high of $95.77. The firm has a market capitalization of $50.66 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 17.12, a PEG ratio of 2.19 and a beta of 0.63. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $72.30 and a 200 day simple moving average of $80.07. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.89, a current ratio of 0.52 and a quick ratio of 0.47.

Sempra (NYSE:SRE) last issued 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. Sempra had a return on equity of 8.06% and a net margin of 22.63%. The business had revenue of $3.80 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.90 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $1.34 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 4.5% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts anticipate that Sempra will post 4.76 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Sempra Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, July 15th. Investors of record on Thursday, June 26th will be given a $0.645 dividend. This represents a $2.58 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.32%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, June 26th. Sempra’s payout ratio is 56.70%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages have commented on SRE. Jefferies Financial Group cut their target price on Sempra from $77.00 to $75.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, April 15th. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price objective on Sempra from $88.00 to $85.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, March 26th. Citigroup lowered their price objective on Sempra from $93.00 to $70.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, April 9th. Morgan Stanley set a $87.00 price objective on Sempra and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday. 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 report on Thursday, February 27th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $80.62.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Sempra news, insider Diana L. Day sold 8,015 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, May 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $74.26, for a total transaction of $595,193.90. Following the completion of the sale, the insider now directly owns 16,969 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,260,117.94. The trade was a 32.08% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, Director Cynthia J. Warner acquired 700 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 6th. The shares were bought at an average cost of $70.65 per share, with a total value of $49,455.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director now directly owns 8,759 shares in the company, valued at approximately $618,823.35. This represents a 8.69% increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders purchased 9,319 shares of company stock valued at $651,676. Corporate insiders own 0.27% of the company’s stock.

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.