Canada Post Corp Registered Pension Plan Invests $7.25 Million in Sempra (NYSE:SRE)

Canada Post Corp Registered Pension Plan acquired a new position in Sempra (NYSE:SRE - Free Report) during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm acquired 82,675 shares of the utilities provider's stock, valued at approximately $7,252,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of SRE. CreativeOne Wealth LLC increased its holdings in shares of Sempra by 9.8% during the 4th quarter. CreativeOne Wealth LLC now owns 11,249 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $987,000 after purchasing an additional 1,002 shares during the period. Mariner LLC raised its holdings in Sempra by 21.9% in the 4th quarter. Mariner LLC now owns 106,087 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $9,306,000 after acquiring an additional 19,073 shares in the last quarter. Savvy Advisors Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Sempra in the 4th quarter worth approximately $397,000. Advisors Capital Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Sempra during the 4th quarter worth approximately $225,000. Finally, Sagespring Wealth Partners LLC acquired a new position in shares of Sempra in the fourth quarter valued at $528,000. Institutional investors own 89.65% of the company's stock.

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 stock was sold at an average price of $81.93, for a total value of $225,717.15. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 13,905 shares in the company, valued at $1,139,236.65. This trade represents a 16.54 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, Director Cynthia J. Warner acquired 700 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 6th. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $70.65 per share, with a total value of $49,455.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 8,759 shares in the company, valued at approximately $618,823.35. This trade represents a 8.69 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders acquired 9,319 shares of company stock worth $651,676 and sold 57,309 shares worth $4,694,019. Corporate insiders own 0.27% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Mizuho decreased their target price on shares of Sempra from $92.00 to $76.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, February 26th. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their target price on Sempra from $88.00 to $85.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, March 26th. Argus cut Sempra from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Tuesday, March 18th. UBS Group cut shares of Sempra from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating and lowered their price objective for the company from $95.00 to $78.00 in a research report on Wednesday, February 26th. Finally, Guggenheim reduced their target price on shares of Sempra from $95.00 to $87.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, February 26th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $80.31.

Sempra Trading Up 1.1 %

Shares of SRE stock traded up $0.75 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $71.14. The company had a trading volume of 3,595,052 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,687,181. Sempra has a 1-year low of $61.90 and a 1-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 firm has a market cap of $46.38 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.67, a P/E/G ratio of 2.19 and a beta of 0.65. The company has a 50 day moving average of $72.42 and a 200 day moving average of $81.45.

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

Sempra Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, April 15th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, March 20th were issued a dividend of $0.645 per share. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, March 20th. This is a positive change from Sempra's previous quarterly dividend of $0.62. This represents a $2.58 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.63%. Sempra's payout ratio is currently 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.