Callan Family Office LLC Purchases New Position in Sempra (NYSE:SRE)

Callan Family Office LLC acquired a new stake in Sempra (NYSE:SRE - Free Report) in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor acquired 3,868 shares of the utilities provider's stock, valued at approximately $339,000.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of SRE. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. increased its stake in Sempra by 633.4% in the fourth quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. now owns 29,917 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $2,624,000 after purchasing an additional 25,838 shares in the last quarter. Unigestion Holding SA bought a new position in shares of Sempra in the third quarter valued at approximately $33,023,000. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its position in shares of Sempra by 8.8% during the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 3,428,132 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $286,695,000 after acquiring an additional 278,183 shares during the last quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Sempra by 1.9% in the 3rd quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 357,107 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $29,865,000 after buying an additional 6,709 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Kovitz Investment Group Partners LLC purchased a new position in shares of Sempra during the 3rd quarter valued at $675,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 89.65% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts have recently commented on the stock. Barclays lowered shares of Sempra from an "overweight" rating to an "equal weight" rating and cut their price objective for the company from $95.00 to $72.00 in a research report on Thursday, February 27th. Jefferies Financial Group reaffirmed a "hold" rating and set a $77.00 price objective (down from $96.00) on shares of Sempra in a research note on Monday, March 3rd. BMO Capital Markets dropped their target price on shares of Sempra from $92.00 to $78.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a report on Tuesday, March 4th. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price objective on shares of Sempra from $96.00 to $88.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, February 26th. Finally, UBS Group lowered Sempra from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating and dropped their price target for the company from $95.00 to $78.00 in a research report on Wednesday, February 26th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $81.50.

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Sempra Stock Up 1.1 %

Sempra stock traded up $0.76 during midday trading on Wednesday, hitting $69.55. 1,703,337 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 5,584,112. 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 company has a market cap of $45.31 billion, a PE ratio of 15.31, a P/E/G ratio of 2.19 and a beta of 0.76. Sempra has a 12 month low of $64.89 and a 12 month high of $95.77. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $80.68 and a two-hundred day moving average of $84.27.

Sempra (NYSE:SRE - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 25th. The utilities provider reported $1.50 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.47 by $0.03. The firm 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% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm posted $1.13 EPS. As a group, analysts expect that Sempra will post 4.76 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Sempra Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced 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 positive change from Sempra's previous quarterly dividend of $0.62. This represents a $2.58 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.71%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, March 20th. Sempra's dividend payout ratio is presently 58.37%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Sempra news, 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 value of $225,717.15. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 13,905 shares of the company's stock, valued at $1,139,236.65. This trade represents a 16.54 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Director Cynthia J. Warner purchased 700 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 6th. The stock was bought at an average price of $70.65 per share, with a total value of $49,455.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 8,759 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $618,823.35. This represents a 8.69 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. 0.27% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.