Potomac Fund Management Inc. ADV Takes $515,000 Position in Sempra (NYSE:SRE)

Potomac Fund Management Inc. ADV acquired a new position in shares of Sempra (NYSE:SRE - Free Report) in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund acquired 5,872 shares of the utilities provider's stock, valued at approximately $515,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Sempra by 2.4% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 13,072,966 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $1,143,248,000 after acquiring an additional 311,094 shares in the last quarter. HighPoint Advisor Group LLC lifted its stake in Sempra by 6.2% during the fourth quarter. HighPoint Advisor Group LLC now owns 11,465 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $956,000 after purchasing an additional 669 shares during the last quarter. Summit Financial LLC acquired a new position in Sempra in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $348,000. Alliancebernstein L.P. increased its stake in Sempra by 24.5% in the fourth quarter. Alliancebernstein L.P. now owns 828,756 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $72,698,000 after purchasing an additional 163,268 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Prudent Man Investment Management Inc. acquired a new stake in Sempra during the fourth quarter worth approximately $26,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 89.65% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages recently commented on SRE. Wells Fargo & Company cut their price target on shares of Sempra from $88.00 to $85.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, March 26th. The Goldman Sachs Group cut Sempra from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating and cut their target price for the stock from $99.00 to $76.00 in a research report on Wednesday, February 26th. Morgan Stanley upped their target price on Sempra from $85.00 to $86.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Thursday, March 20th. Jefferies Financial Group restated a "hold" rating and set a $77.00 price target (down previously from $96.00) on shares of Sempra in a research note on Monday, March 3rd. Finally, BMO Capital Markets decreased their price objective on Sempra from $92.00 to $78.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, March 4th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Sempra presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $81.33.

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Insider Buying and Selling at Sempra

In other news, CEO Jeffrey W. Martin sold 49,737 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, January 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $82.94, for a total value of $4,125,186.78. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 2 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $165.88. This represents a 100.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, EVP Justin Christopher Bird sold 4,817 shares of Sempra stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, April 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $71.23, for a total transaction of $343,114.91. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 19,778 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,408,786.94. This represents a 19.59 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders bought 9,319 shares of company stock valued at $651,676 and sold 57,309 shares valued at $4,694,019. 0.24% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Sempra Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:SRE traded down $4.84 during trading on Friday, hitting $65.89. 6,643,959 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 3,622,739. 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 business's fifty day moving average is $75.87 and its 200-day moving average is $82.71. The stock has a market capitalization of $42.96 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.51, a PEG ratio of 2.19 and a beta of 0.65. Sempra has a one year low of $64.89 and a one year high of $95.77.

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

Sempra Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed 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 is an increase from Sempra's previous quarterly dividend of $0.62. This represents a $2.58 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.92%. Sempra's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 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.