5,872 Shares in Sempra (NYSE:SRE) Bought by Potomac Fund Management Inc. ADV

Potomac Fund Management Inc. ADV bought a new stake in Sempra (NYSE:SRE) during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm bought 5,872 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $515,000.

Several other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of SRE. Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec boosted its holdings in Sempra by 6.0% in the 3rd quarter. Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec now owns 5,290 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $442,000 after buying an additional 300 shares during the last quarter. Erste Asset Management GmbH purchased a new stake in shares of Sempra during the third quarter worth approximately $2,707,000. Kestra Investment Management LLC acquired a new position in Sempra in the 3rd quarter valued at $247,000. Benjamin Edwards Inc. lifted its holdings in Sempra by 520.1% in the 3rd quarter. Benjamin Edwards Inc. now owns 24,227 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $2,026,000 after purchasing an additional 20,320 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Hilltop Holdings Inc. purchased a new position in Sempra in the 3rd quarter valued at $433,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 89.65% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Jeffrey W. Martin sold 49,737 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, January 30th. The stock was 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. The trade was a 100.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, SVP Alexander Lisa Larroque sold 2,755 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $81.93, for a total transaction of $225,717.15. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 13,905 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,139,236.65. This trade represents a 16.54 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders acquired 9,319 shares of company stock valued at $651,676. 0.24% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Sempra Stock Performance

Shares of SRE stock opened at $71.57 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.89, a quick ratio of 0.47 and a current ratio of 0.52. The firm has a market cap of $46.62 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.76, a P/E/G ratio of 2.19 and a beta of 0.76. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $76.65 and its 200-day moving average price is $82.99. Sempra has a one year low of $64.89 and a one year high of $95.77.

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

Sempra Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared 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. This represents a $2.58 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.60%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, March 20th. This is a boost from Sempra’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.62. Sempra’s dividend payout ratio is currently 58.37%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have recently commented on SRE. Guggenheim reduced their target price on shares of Sempra from $95.00 to $87.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, February 26th. BMO Capital Markets lowered their target price on Sempra from $92.00 to $78.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Tuesday, March 4th. Argus lowered Sempra from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 18th. Morgan Stanley boosted their price objective on Sempra from $85.00 to $86.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 20th. Finally, UBS Group lowered Sempra from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and reduced their price target for the stock from $95.00 to $78.00 in a report on Wednesday, February 26th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $81.33.

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.