Erste Asset Management GmbH Boosts Position in Sempra (NYSE:SRE)

Erste Asset Management GmbH increased its holdings in Sempra (NYSE:SRE - Free Report) by 112.3% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 69,227 shares of the utilities provider's stock after buying an additional 36,626 shares during the quarter. Erste Asset Management GmbH's holdings in Sempra were worth $6,070,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Lindbrook Capital LLC increased its holdings in Sempra by 5.4% in the 4th quarter. Lindbrook Capital LLC now owns 2,410 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $211,000 after buying an additional 124 shares during the period. Pinnacle West Asset Management Inc. increased its holdings in Sempra by 5.1% in the 4th quarter. Pinnacle West Asset Management Inc. now owns 2,585 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $227,000 after buying an additional 125 shares during the period. Avantax Planning Partners Inc. grew its stake in shares of Sempra by 2.0% during the 4th quarter. Avantax Planning Partners Inc. now owns 7,423 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $651,000 after purchasing an additional 147 shares during the period. LVM Capital Management Ltd. MI grew its stake in shares of Sempra by 2.4% during the 4th quarter. LVM Capital Management Ltd. MI now owns 6,677 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $586,000 after purchasing an additional 155 shares during the period. Finally, Kingsview Wealth Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Sempra by 0.3% during the 3rd quarter. Kingsview Wealth Management LLC now owns 46,518 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $3,890,000 after purchasing an additional 158 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 89.65% of the company's stock.

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Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts have recently commented on SRE shares. UBS Group cut shares of Sempra from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating and dropped their price objective for the stock from $95.00 to $78.00 in a research note on Wednesday, February 26th. Jefferies Financial Group reaffirmed a "hold" rating and set a $77.00 price objective (down previously from $96.00) on shares of Sempra in a research note on Monday, March 3rd. Argus cut shares of Sempra from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Tuesday. Guggenheim dropped their price objective 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, Barclays lowered Sempra from an "overweight" rating to an "equal weight" rating and decreased their target price for the company from $95.00 to $72.00 in a research report on Thursday, February 27th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $81.50.

Insider Buying and Selling at Sempra

In other news, CEO Jeffrey W. Martin sold 49,737 shares of Sempra stock in a transaction dated 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 in the company, valued at approximately $165.88. This trade represents a 100.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director Cynthia J. Warner acquired 700 shares of the firm'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 purchase, the director now directly owns 8,759 shares in the company, valued at approximately $618,823.35. This trade represents a 8.69 % increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Insiders bought a total of 9,319 shares of company stock valued at $651,676 in the last three months. 0.24% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Sempra Price Performance

SRE stock traded down $0.32 during midday trading on Tuesday, reaching $70.74. The stock had a trading volume of 3,915,072 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,311,728. The company's fifty day simple moving average is $79.31 and its 200 day simple moving average is $83.92. The company has a current ratio of 0.52, a quick ratio of 0.47 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.89. The company has a market cap of $46.09 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.58, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.19 and a beta of 0.76. Sempra has a 52-week low of $64.89 and a 52-week high of $95.77.

Sempra (NYSE:SRE - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data 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 return on equity of 8.06% and a net margin of 22.63%. The company had revenue of $3.76 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.73 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $1.13 EPS. The firm's revenue for the quarter was up 7.6% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Sempra will post 4.76 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Sempra Increases Dividend

The firm 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 dividend of $0.645 per share. This represents a $2.58 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.65%. 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 (DPR) is presently 58.37%.

Sempra 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.