Sempra (NYSE:SRE) Stake Lowered by West Paces Advisors Inc.

West Paces Advisors Inc. cut its stake in shares of Sempra (NYSE:SRE) by 10.0% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 8,376 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 930 shares during the quarter. West Paces Advisors Inc.’s holdings in Sempra were worth $598,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Prudent Man Investment Management Inc. bought a new position in shares of Sempra during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $26,000. Synergy Investment Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Sempra during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $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 valued at $29,000 after purchasing an additional 244 shares during the last quarter. Meeder Asset Management Inc. bought a new position in shares of Sempra during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $29,000. Finally, Mattson Financial Services LLC bought a new position in shares of Sempra during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $30,000. 89.65% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

SRE has been the topic of several analyst reports. Morgan Stanley set a $87.00 target price on Sempra and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, May 22nd. Barclays cut Sempra from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and lowered their target price for the company from $95.00 to $72.00 in a research report on Thursday, February 27th. Jefferies Financial Group lowered their target price on Sempra from $77.00 to $75.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, April 15th. Mizuho lowered their target price on Sempra from $92.00 to $76.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, February 26th. Finally, UBS Group cut Sempra from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and lowered their target price for the company from $95.00 to $78.00 in a research report on Wednesday, February 26th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Sempra presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $80.75.

Insider Activity

In related news, Director Pablo Ferrero acquired 2,600 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 17th. The stock was bought at an average price of $70.96 per share, for a total transaction of $184,496.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 15,649 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,110,453.04. The trade was a 19.92% increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, insider Diana L. Day sold 8,015 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $74.26, for a total value of $595,193.90. Following the sale, 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 position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 0.27% of the company’s stock.

Sempra Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE SRE opened at $74.64 on Tuesday. Sempra has a 1 year low of $61.90 and a 1 year high of $95.77. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $73.77 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $78.76. The firm has a market cap of $48.66 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.44, a PEG ratio of 2.19 and a beta of 0.64. 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 (NYSE:SRE) last announced its quarterly earnings data 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 company had revenue of $3.80 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.90 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $1.34 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 4.5% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts forecast that Sempra will post 4.76 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Sempra Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, July 15th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, June 26th will be given a dividend of $0.645 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, June 26th. This represents a $2.58 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.46%. Sempra’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 56.70%.

Sempra Company 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.