Cookson Peirce & Co. Inc. Acquires 974 Shares of Sempra (NYSE:SRE)

Cookson Peirce & Co. Inc. grew its position in shares of Sempra (NYSE:SRE) by 13.2% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 8,339 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after buying an additional 974 shares during the quarter. Cookson Peirce & Co. Inc.’s holdings in Sempra were worth $731,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Triad Wealth Partners LLC bought a new stake in Sempra during the fourth quarter worth about $201,000. Carrera Capital Advisors grew its stake in Sempra by 25.2% during the fourth quarter. Carrera Capital Advisors now owns 45,893 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $4,050,000 after buying an additional 9,238 shares during the last quarter. Keybank National Association OH grew its stake in Sempra by 14.4% during the fourth quarter. Keybank National Association OH now owns 45,389 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $3,982,000 after buying an additional 5,721 shares during the last quarter. Commerzbank Aktiengesellschaft FI grew its stake in Sempra by 31.4% during the fourth quarter. Commerzbank Aktiengesellschaft FI now owns 15,543 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,358,000 after buying an additional 3,714 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Synergy Investment Management LLC bought a new stake in Sempra during the fourth quarter worth about $29,000. 89.65% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity at Sempra

In related news, SVP Alexander Lisa Larroque sold 2,755 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $81.93, for a total value of $225,717.15. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 13,905 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,139,236.65. This trade represents a 16.54 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Jeffrey W. Martin sold 49,737 shares of Sempra 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 transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $165.88. This trade represents a 100.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.24% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. UBS Group lowered shares of Sempra from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and reduced their target price for the stock from $95.00 to $78.00 in a research report on Wednesday, February 26th. Barclays lowered shares of Sempra from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and reduced their target price for the stock from $95.00 to $72.00 in a research report on Thursday, February 27th. Guggenheim reduced their target price on shares of Sempra from $95.00 to $87.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, February 26th. The Goldman Sachs Group lowered shares of Sempra from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and reduced their target price for the stock from $99.00 to $76.00 in a research report on Wednesday, February 26th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets reduced their target price on shares of Sempra from $92.00 to $78.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $81.54.

Sempra Stock Up 2.0 %

Shares of SRE stock opened at $72.01 on Thursday. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $82.15 and a 200-day moving average of $84.58. 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 12-month low of $64.89 and a 12-month high of $95.77. The company has a market capitalization of $46.91 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.86, a P/E/G ratio of 2.19 and a beta of 0.78.

Sempra (NYSE:SRE) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 25th. The utilities provider reported $1.50 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.47 by $0.03. The company had revenue of $3.76 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.73 billion. Sempra had a net margin of 22.63% and a return on equity of 8.06%. The firm’s revenue was up 7.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $1.13 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Sempra will post 4.76 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Sempra Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 15th. Investors of record on Thursday, March 20th will be given a $0.645 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, March 20th. This represents a $2.58 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.58%. This is an increase from Sempra’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.62. Sempra’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 58.37%.

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.