Premier Fund Managers Ltd Cuts Stock Holdings in Sempra (NYSE:SRE)

Premier Fund Managers Ltd lowered its stake in shares of Sempra (NYSE:SRE) by 4.4% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 32,500 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 1,500 shares during the quarter. Premier Fund Managers Ltd’s holdings in Sempra were worth $2,840,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of SRE. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Sempra in the fourth quarter valued at about $1,535,000,000. State Street Corp increased its stake in Sempra by 4.9% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 32,940,620 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $2,774,974,000 after buying an additional 1,539,026 shares during the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new position in shares of Sempra during the 4th quarter worth approximately $123,614,000. KLP Kapitalforvaltning AS purchased a new position in shares of Sempra in the 4th quarter worth approximately $43,956,000. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in Sempra by 0.8% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 63,018,055 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $5,527,944,000 after acquiring an additional 490,269 shares during the period. 89.65% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

SRE has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. UBS Group downgraded Sempra from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and reduced their price objective for the company from $95.00 to $78.00 in a research note on Wednesday, February 26th. Guggenheim decreased their price objective on shares of Sempra from $95.00 to $87.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, February 26th. Jefferies Financial Group reiterated a “hold” rating and issued a $77.00 target price (down from $96.00) on shares of Sempra in a research note on Monday, March 3rd. Morgan Stanley raised their price target on shares of Sempra from $85.00 to $86.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 20th. Finally, Barclays downgraded Sempra from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and dropped their price objective for the company from $95.00 to $72.00 in a research note on Thursday, February 27th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $81.33.

Sempra Stock Down 0.9 %

Shares of NYSE SRE opened at $70.15 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.47, a current ratio of 0.52 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.89. The company has a market cap of $45.70 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.45, a P/E/G ratio of 2.19 and a beta of 0.76. Sempra has a 52 week low of $64.89 and a 52 week high of $95.77. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $77.54 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $83.22.

Sempra (NYSE:SRE) last released its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 25th. The utilities provider reported $1.50 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.47 by $0.03. The company had revenue of $3.76 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.73 billion. Sempra had a net margin of 22.63% and a return on equity of 8.06%. Sempra’s revenue was up 7.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business earned $1.13 earnings per share. Research analysts anticipate that Sempra will post 4.76 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Sempra Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 15th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, March 20th will be issued a $0.645 dividend. The ex-dividend date 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 is presently 58.37%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director Pablo Ferrero purchased 2,600 shares of Sempra stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 17th. The shares were acquired at an average cost of $70.96 per share, for a total transaction of $184,496.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 15,649 shares in the company, valued at $1,110,453.04. The trade was a 19.92 % 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, Director Cynthia J. Warner bought 700 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 6th. The stock was purchased at an average price of $70.65 per share, for a total transaction of $49,455.00. Following the acquisition, the director now directly owns 8,759 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $618,823.35. The trade was a 8.69 % increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have acquired 9,319 shares of company stock worth $651,676. Corporate insiders own 0.24% 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.