Lbp Am Sa Sells 85,844 Shares of Sempra (NYSE:SRE)

LBP AM SA trimmed its holdings in shares of Sempra (NYSE:SRE - Free Report) by 51.2% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 81,858 shares of the utilities provider's stock after selling 85,844 shares during the quarter. LBP AM SA's holdings in Sempra were worth $7,181,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other large investors have also bought and sold shares of the business. Wellington Management Group LLP grew its stake in shares of Sempra by 0.4% during the 3rd quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 34,324,893 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $2,870,591,000 after acquiring an additional 128,847 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp grew its stake in shares of Sempra by 4.9% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 32,940,620 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $2,774,974,000 after acquiring an additional 1,539,026 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC grew its stake in shares of Sempra by 9.1% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 18,978,605 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $1,587,181,000 after acquiring an additional 1,582,653 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Sempra by 1.2% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 12,761,872 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $1,063,007,000 after acquiring an additional 145,873 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Franklin Resources Inc. grew its stake in shares of Sempra by 1.7% during the 3rd quarter. Franklin Resources Inc. now owns 7,695,988 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $639,921,000 after acquiring an additional 129,891 shares in the last quarter. 89.65% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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Sempra Stock Performance

Sempra stock traded up $0.31 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, hitting $71.06. 5,920,426 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 3,325,188. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $79.04 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $83.84. Sempra has a fifty-two week low of $64.89 and a fifty-two week high of $95.77. The stock has a market cap of $46.29 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.65, a P/E/G ratio of 2.19 and a beta of 0.76. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.89, a current ratio of 0.52 and a quick ratio of 0.47.

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

Sempra Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 15th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, March 20th will be issued a dividend of $0.645 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, March 20th. This represents a $2.58 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.63%. This is an increase from Sempra's previous quarterly dividend of $0.62. Sempra's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 58.37%.

Insider Transactions at Sempra

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

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on SRE shares. BMO Capital Markets decreased their price target on shares of Sempra from $92.00 to $78.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, March 4th. Argus cut shares of Sempra from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Tuesday. Jefferies Financial Group reissued a "hold" rating and issued a $77.00 price objective (down previously from $96.00) on shares of Sempra in a report on Monday, March 3rd. Wells Fargo & Company cut their price objective on Sempra from $96.00 to $88.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, February 26th. Finally, Mizuho cut their price objective on Sempra from $92.00 to $76.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, February 26th. Five investment 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, the stock currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $81.50.

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.