Fisher Asset Management LLC Makes New $326,000 Investment in Sempra (NYSE:SRE)

Fisher Asset Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Sempra (NYSE:SRE - Free Report) in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm purchased 3,713 shares of the utilities provider's stock, valued at approximately $326,000.

Other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Wellington Management Group LLP grew its stake in Sempra by 0.4% in the 3rd quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 34,324,893 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $2,870,591,000 after buying an additional 128,847 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp grew its stake in Sempra by 4.9% in the 3rd 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 grew its stake in Sempra by 9.1% in the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 18,978,605 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $1,587,181,000 after buying an additional 1,582,653 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its stake in Sempra by 1.2% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 12,761,872 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $1,063,007,000 after buying an additional 145,873 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Franklin Resources Inc. grew its stake in Sempra by 1.7% in the 3rd quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 7,695,988 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $639,921,000 after buying an additional 129,891 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 89.65% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms recently weighed in on SRE. Morgan Stanley reduced their price objective on shares of Sempra from $100.00 to $85.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, February 26th. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price target 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. Guggenheim reduced 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. Barclays lowered shares of Sempra from an "overweight" rating to an "equal weight" rating and reduced their price target for the company from $95.00 to $72.00 in a research report on Thursday, February 27th. Finally, Mizuho dropped their price objective on shares of Sempra from $92.00 to $76.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a 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's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Sempra presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $81.50.

Remove Ads

Sempra Trading Down 0.6 %

Sempra stock traded down $0.39 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $69.23. The company's stock had a trading volume of 5,948,281 shares, compared to its average volume of 5,561,125. 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 stock has a market cap of $45.10 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.25, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.19 and a beta of 0.76. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $81.42 and a 200-day moving average price of $84.42. Sempra has a 12 month low of $64.89 and a 12 month high of $95.77.

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

Sempra Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 15th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, March 20th will be given a $0.645 dividend. This is a boost from Sempra's previous quarterly dividend of $0.62. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, March 20th. This represents a $2.58 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.73%. Sempra's payout ratio is presently 58.37%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Sempra

In related news, SVP Alexander Lisa Larroque sold 2,755 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $81.93, for a total transaction of $225,717.15. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 13,905 shares in the company, valued at $1,139,236.65. The trade was a 16.54 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Jeffrey W. Martin sold 49,737 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Thursday, January 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $82.94, for a total transaction of $4,125,186.78. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 2 shares in the company, valued at $165.88. This represents a 100.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 0.24% of the company's stock.

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.