Patten Group Inc. Sells 146 Shares of Sempra (NYSE:SRE)

Patten Group Inc. lowered its holdings in shares of Sempra (NYSE:SRE) by 5.2% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 2,650 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 146 shares during the quarter. Patten Group Inc.’s holdings in Sempra were worth $232,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the business. Pinnacle West Asset Management Inc. raised its position in shares of Sempra by 5.1% during the fourth quarter. Pinnacle West Asset Management Inc. now owns 2,585 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $227,000 after buying an additional 125 shares during the last quarter. LVM Capital Management Ltd. MI increased its stake in Sempra by 2.4% in the fourth 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. Kingsview Wealth Management LLC increased its stake in Sempra by 0.3% in the third 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. IFP Advisors Inc increased its stake in Sempra by 5.2% in the fourth quarter. IFP Advisors Inc now owns 3,210 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $295,000 after acquiring an additional 159 shares during the period. Finally, Greenwood Capital Associates LLC increased its stake in Sempra by 1.2% in the fourth quarter. Greenwood Capital Associates LLC now owns 14,079 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,235,000 after acquiring an additional 165 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 89.65% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In related news, CEO Jeffrey W. Martin sold 49,737 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, January 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $82.94, for a total value of $4,125,186.78. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2 shares in the company, valued at $165.88. This represents a 100.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, SVP Alexander Lisa Larroque sold 2,755 shares of the 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 transaction, the senior vice president now owns 13,905 shares in the company, valued at $1,139,236.65. This represents a 16.54 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.24% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

SRE has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. BMO Capital Markets lowered their target price on shares of Sempra from $92.00 to $78.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday. Barclays cut shares of 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 note on Thursday, February 27th. Jefferies Financial Group reissued a “hold” rating and issued a $77.00 target price (down previously from $96.00) on shares of Sempra in a research note on Monday. Guggenheim lowered their target price on shares of Sempra from $95.00 to $87.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, February 26th. Finally, UBS Group cut shares of 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 note on Wednesday, February 26th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Sempra presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $81.54.

Sempra Price Performance

SRE opened at $70.64 on Wednesday. Sempra has a one year low of $64.89 and a one 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 company’s 50 day simple moving average is $82.47 and its 200-day simple moving average is $84.66. The stock has a market capitalization of $46.02 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.56, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.19 and a beta of 0.78.

Sempra (NYSE:SRE) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 25th. The utilities provider reported $1.50 EPS for the quarter, beating 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 firm earned $1.13 earnings per share. Sempra’s revenue was up 7.6% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Sempra will post 4.76 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Sempra Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 15th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, March 20th will be paid a dividend of $0.645 per share. This is a boost from Sempra’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.62. This represents a $2.58 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.65%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, March 20th. Sempra’s dividend payout ratio is 58.37%.

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.