Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD Sells 113,758 Shares of Sempra (NYSE:SRE)

Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD cut its holdings in Sempra (NYSE:SRE - Free Report) by 1.5% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 7,229,574 shares of the utilities provider's stock after selling 113,758 shares during the quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD owned about 1.14% of Sempra worth $634,179,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Sempra by 633.4% during the fourth quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. now owns 29,917 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $2,624,000 after acquiring an additional 25,838 shares during the period. L & S Advisors Inc grew its position in Sempra by 52.6% during the 4th quarter. L & S Advisors Inc now owns 41,601 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $3,649,000 after purchasing an additional 14,338 shares in the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised its stake in Sempra by 8.8% during the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 3,428,132 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $286,695,000 after purchasing an additional 278,183 shares during the period. Empower Advisory Group LLC boosted its position 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 valued at $93,956,000 after purchasing an additional 26,821 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Principal Securities Inc. increased its stake in shares of Sempra by 11.7% during the 4th quarter. Principal Securities Inc. now owns 9,479 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $831,000 after purchasing an additional 990 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 89.65% of the company's stock.

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 of the company's stock, valued at $165.88. The trade was a 100.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, Director Cynthia J. Warner purchased 700 shares of Sempra stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 6th. The shares were purchased at an average cost of $70.65 per share, with a total value of $49,455.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 8,759 shares of the company's stock, valued at $618,823.35. This represents a 8.69 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders purchased 9,319 shares of company stock worth $651,676 and sold 57,309 shares worth $4,694,019. Corporate insiders own 0.27% of the company's stock.

Sempra Stock Performance

SRE traded up $0.23 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $74.75. The company had a trading volume of 4,122,952 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,721,994. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $71.33 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $81.13. 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 has a 12-month low of $61.90 and a 12-month high of $95.77. The stock has a market cap of $48.73 billion, a PE ratio of 16.46, a P/E/G ratio of 2.19 and a beta of 0.65.

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, beating 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 quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $1.13 earnings per share. The company's quarterly revenue was up 7.6% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side 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 was paid on Tuesday, April 15th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, March 20th were paid a $0.645 dividend. 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 yield of 3.45%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, March 20th. Sempra's payout ratio is 58.37%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have recently issued reports on SRE. The Goldman Sachs Group downgraded Sempra from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating and decreased their price target for the stock from $99.00 to $76.00 in a research note on Wednesday, February 26th. BMO Capital Markets cut their price objective on Sempra from $92.00 to $78.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, March 4th. Morgan Stanley set a $89.00 target price on Sempra and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Wednesday. Mizuho reduced their price target 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. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group decreased their price target on shares of Sempra from $77.00 to $75.00 and set a "hold" rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, April 15th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $80.54.

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.