Cynthia J. Warner Buys 700 Shares of Sempra (NYSE:SRE) Stock

Sempra (NYSE:SRE - Get Free Report) Director Cynthia J. Warner purchased 700 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 6th. The shares were purchased at an average price of $70.65 per share, with a total value of $49,455.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 8,759 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $618,823.35. The trade was a 8.69 % increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website.

Sempra Price Performance

NYSE SRE traded down $0.39 on Friday, reaching $69.23. The company's stock had a trading volume of 5,948,281 shares, compared to its average volume of 5,561,125. Sempra has a twelve month low of $64.89 and a twelve month high of $95.77. 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 stock has a market cap of $45.10 billion, a PE ratio of 15.25, a PEG ratio of 2.19 and a beta of 0.78. The firm's 50 day moving average is $81.79 and its two-hundred day moving average is $84.47.

Sempra (NYSE:SRE - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 25th. The utilities provider reported $1.50 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $1.47 by $0.03. Sempra had a net margin of 22.63% and a return on equity of 8.06%. The company had revenue of $3.76 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.73 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $1.13 EPS. Sempra's revenue was up 7.6% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side 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. Shareholders of record on Thursday, March 20th will be issued a $0.645 dividend. This represents a $2.58 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.73%. This is an increase from Sempra's previous quarterly dividend of $0.62. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, March 20th. Sempra's dividend payout ratio is presently 58.37%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Sempra

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in Sempra by 0.8% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 63,018,055 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $5,527,944,000 after buying an additional 490,269 shares in the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP lifted its stake in Sempra by 11.9% during the fourth quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 38,407,154 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $3,369,076,000 after buying an additional 4,082,261 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp lifted its stake in Sempra by 4.9% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 32,940,620 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $2,774,974,000 after buying an additional 1,539,026 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC lifted its stake in Sempra by 8.0% during the fourth quarter. FMR LLC now owns 20,489,918 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $1,797,376,000 after buying an additional 1,511,313 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank purchased a new stake in Sempra during the fourth quarter valued at about $1,535,000,000. 89.65% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

SRE has been the subject of several recent research reports. Guggenheim lowered their price target 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. The Goldman Sachs Group lowered shares of Sempra from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating and lowered their price target for the stock from $99.00 to $76.00 in a research report on Wednesday, February 26th. UBS Group lowered shares of Sempra from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating and lowered their price target for the stock from $95.00 to $78.00 in a research report on Wednesday, February 26th. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their target price on shares of Sempra from $96.00 to $88.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, February 26th. Finally, Morgan Stanley decreased their target price on shares of Sempra from $100.00 to $85.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company 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 stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $81.50.

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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.

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