Meiji Yasuda Asset Management Co Ltd. Boosts Holdings in Sempra (NYSE:SRE)

Meiji Yasuda Asset Management Co Ltd. raised its position in Sempra (NYSE:SRE - Free Report) by 29.3% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 83,510 shares of the utilities provider's stock after purchasing an additional 18,947 shares during the period. Meiji Yasuda Asset Management Co Ltd.'s holdings in Sempra were worth $7,325,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of SRE. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in shares of Sempra by 0.8% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 63,018,055 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $5,527,944,000 after acquiring an additional 490,269 shares in the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its holdings in shares of 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 raised its stake in 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 raised its stake in 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. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its position in Sempra by 1.2% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 12,761,872 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $1,063,007,000 after acquiring an additional 145,873 shares during the last quarter. 89.65% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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Insider Activity

In other Sempra news, CEO Jeffrey W. Martin sold 49,737 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, January 30th. The shares were 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 directly 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 sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Director Pablo Ferrero purchased 2,600 shares of Sempra stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 17th. The shares were bought at an average price of $70.96 per share, with a total value of $184,496.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now owns 15,649 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,110,453.04. This trade represents a 19.92 % increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Insiders purchased 9,319 shares of company stock worth $651,676 in the last 90 days. 0.24% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts recently issued reports on the company. Jefferies Financial Group reissued a "hold" rating and issued a $77.00 target price (down from $96.00) on shares of Sempra in a research report on Monday, March 3rd. Barclays downgraded Sempra from an "overweight" rating to an "equal weight" rating and decreased their price objective for the company from $95.00 to $72.00 in a report on Thursday, February 27th. Guggenheim cut their target price on shares of Sempra from $95.00 to $87.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, February 26th. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price target on shares of Sempra from $88.00 to $85.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group lowered shares of Sempra from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating and dropped their price objective for the company from $99.00 to $76.00 in a research note on Wednesday, February 26th. 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 a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $81.33.

Sempra Stock Performance

NYSE:SRE traded down $0.23 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $69.83. The stock had a trading volume of 1,302,310 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,556,830. Sempra has a twelve month low of $64.89 and a twelve month high of $95.77. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $77.54 and a 200 day simple moving average of $83.22. The firm has a market capitalization of $45.49 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.40, a PEG ratio of 2.19 and a beta of 0.76. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.89, a quick ratio of 0.47 and a current ratio of 0.52.

Sempra (NYSE:SRE - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 25th. The utilities provider reported $1.50 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 analysts' expectations of $4.73 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $1.13 EPS. The company's quarterly revenue was up 7.6% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts expect that Sempra will post 4.76 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Sempra Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 15th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, March 20th will be paid a dividend of $0.645 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, March 20th. This is a boost from Sempra's previous quarterly dividend of $0.62. This represents a $2.58 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.69%. Sempra's dividend payout ratio is 58.37%.

Sempra Company 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.