Royal London Asset Management Ltd. Sells 2,674 Shares of Sempra (NYSE:SRE)

Royal London Asset Management Ltd. trimmed its position in Sempra (NYSE:SRE) by 0.5% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 487,777 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 2,674 shares during the period. Royal London Asset Management Ltd.’s holdings in Sempra were worth $42,788,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Lindbrook Capital LLC grew its position in Sempra by 5.4% in the 4th quarter. Lindbrook Capital LLC now owns 2,410 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $211,000 after purchasing an additional 124 shares in the last quarter. Pinnacle West Asset Management Inc. grew its position in shares of Sempra by 5.1% during the 4th quarter. Pinnacle West Asset Management Inc. now owns 2,585 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $227,000 after acquiring an additional 125 shares during the period. Avantax Planning Partners Inc. grew its position in shares of Sempra by 2.0% during the 4th quarter. Avantax Planning Partners Inc. now owns 7,423 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $651,000 after acquiring an additional 147 shares during the period. LVM Capital Management Ltd. MI grew its position in shares of Sempra by 2.4% during the 4th quarter. LVM Capital Management Ltd. MI now owns 6,677 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $586,000 after acquiring an additional 155 shares during the period. Finally, Kingsview Wealth Management LLC grew its position in shares of Sempra by 0.3% during the 3rd quarter. Kingsview Wealth Management LLC now owns 46,518 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $3,890,000 after acquiring an additional 158 shares during the period. 89.65% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Morgan Stanley increased their target price on shares of Sempra from $85.00 to $86.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday. UBS Group downgraded shares of Sempra from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and reduced their target price for the company from $95.00 to $78.00 in a research report on Wednesday, February 26th. The Goldman Sachs Group downgraded shares of Sempra from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and reduced their target price for the company from $99.00 to $76.00 in a research report on Wednesday, February 26th. Mizuho reduced their target price 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. Finally, Argus downgraded shares of Sempra from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $81.58.

Insider Activity

In related news, Director Cynthia J. Warner acquired 700 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 6th. The shares were purchased at an average price of $70.65 per share, for a total transaction of $49,455.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 8,759 shares in the company, valued at $618,823.35. This represents a 8.69 % increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO Jeffrey W. Martin sold 49,737 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction 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 sale, the chief executive officer now owns 2 shares in the company, valued at approximately $165.88. This trade represents a 100.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have purchased 9,319 shares of company stock worth $651,676. 0.24% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Sempra Stock Performance

NYSE SRE opened at $70.10 on Friday. Sempra has a 1 year low of $64.89 and a 1 year high of $95.77. 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 stock has a market capitalization of $45.67 billion, a PE ratio of 15.44, a P/E/G ratio of 2.19 and a beta of 0.76. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $78.55 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $83.66.

Sempra (NYSE:SRE) last posted its earnings results 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. Sempra had a net margin of 22.63% and a return on equity of 8.06%. The business had revenue of $3.76 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.73 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $1.13 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.6% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts predict that Sempra will post 4.76 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Sempra Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 15th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, March 20th will be given a dividend of $0.645 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, March 20th. This represents a $2.58 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.68%. This is a boost 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.