498,124 Shares in Sempra (NYSE:SRE) Purchased by KLP Kapitalforvaltning AS

KLP Kapitalforvaltning AS bought a new position in shares of Sempra (NYSE:SRE - Free Report) during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm bought 498,124 shares of the utilities provider's stock, valued at approximately $43,956,000. KLP Kapitalforvaltning AS owned about 0.08% of Sempra as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in SRE. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. raised its position in shares of Sempra by 633.4% during the 4th quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. now owns 29,917 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $2,624,000 after purchasing an additional 25,838 shares during the period. Unigestion Holding SA acquired a new stake in Sempra in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $33,023,000. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted its holdings in Sempra by 8.8% in the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 3,428,132 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $286,695,000 after purchasing an additional 278,183 shares during the period. Kovitz Investment Group Partners LLC bought a new stake in shares of Sempra during the 3rd quarter worth about $675,000. Finally, Empower Advisory Group LLC raised its holdings in Sempra by 2.6% during the fourth quarter. Empower Advisory Group LLC now owns 1,071,091 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $93,956,000 after purchasing an additional 26,821 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 89.65% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts have recently issued reports on SRE shares. Morgan Stanley lifted their price objective on shares of Sempra from $85.00 to $86.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Thursday, March 20th. Guggenheim reduced their price objective on Sempra from $95.00 to $87.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, February 26th. Mizuho cut their price target on Sempra from $92.00 to $76.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, February 26th. UBS Group cut shares of Sempra from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating and reduced their target price for the company from $95.00 to $78.00 in a research note on Wednesday, February 26th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price target on shares of Sempra from $88.00 to $85.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $81.33.

Remove Ads

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Pablo Ferrero bought 2,600 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 17th. The shares were acquired at an average price of $70.96 per share, with a total value of $184,496.00. Following the acquisition, the director now owns 15,649 shares in the company, valued at $1,110,453.04. This trade represents a 19.92 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, CEO Jeffrey W. Martin sold 49,737 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Thursday, January 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $82.94, for a total transaction of $4,125,186.78. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2 shares in the company, valued at $165.88. This represents a 100.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders acquired 9,319 shares of company stock worth $651,676. 0.24% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Sempra Stock Performance

NYSE:SRE traded up $1.65 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, hitting $70.76. 5,304,520 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 3,369,918. The firm has a market capitalization of $46.10 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.59, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.19 and a beta of 0.76. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $78.05 and a two-hundred day moving average of $83.40. The company has a current ratio of 0.52, a quick ratio of 0.47 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.89. 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 (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate 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 for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.73 billion. During the same period last year, the business posted $1.13 EPS. The business's quarterly revenue was up 7.6% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts forecast that Sempra will post 4.76 earnings per share for the current fiscal 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 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.65%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, March 20th. This is a positive change from Sempra's previous quarterly dividend of $0.62. Sempra's payout ratio is 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.