Proficio Capital Partners LLC Purchases New Position in Sempra (NYSE:SRE)

Proficio Capital Partners LLC bought a new stake in shares of Sempra (NYSE:SRE - Free Report) during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund bought 168,265 shares of the utilities provider's stock, valued at approximately $14,760,000.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Crews Bank & Trust purchased a new position in Sempra during the fourth quarter valued at $26,000. Synergy Investment Management LLC purchased a new position in Sempra during the fourth quarter valued at $29,000. Human Investing LLC bought a new stake in Sempra during the fourth quarter valued at about $31,000. ST Germain D J Co. Inc. raised its holdings in Sempra by 225.6% during the fourth quarter. ST Germain D J Co. Inc. now owns 433 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $38,000 after acquiring an additional 300 shares during the period. Finally, LRI Investments LLC raised its holdings in Sempra by 180.4% during the third quarter. LRI Investments LLC now owns 443 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $40,000 after acquiring an additional 285 shares during the period. 89.65% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Sempra news, Director Michael N. Mears bought 1,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Monday, March 10th. The stock was acquired at an average price of $67.70 per share, for a total transaction of $67,700.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 5,000 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $338,500. This represents a 25.00 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, Director Pablo Ferrero bought 2,600 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on 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 transaction, the director now directly owns 15,649 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $1,110,453.04. This trade represents a 19.92 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders purchased 9,319 shares of company stock worth $651,676. Corporate insiders own 0.24% of the company's stock.

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Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

SRE has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Jefferies Financial Group reissued a "hold" rating and set a $77.00 price target (down from $96.00) on shares of Sempra in a report on Monday, March 3rd. Morgan Stanley decreased their price target on Sempra from $100.00 to $85.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, February 26th. UBS Group cut Sempra from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating and decreased their price target for the company from $95.00 to $78.00 in a report on Wednesday, February 26th. Mizuho decreased their price target on Sempra from $92.00 to $76.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, February 26th. Finally, Argus cut Sempra from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Tuesday. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $81.50.

Sempra Trading Down 0.4 %

SRE traded down $0.32 on Tuesday, hitting $70.74. The company had a trading volume of 3,915,069 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,311,728. The company has a market cap of $46.09 billion, a PE ratio of 15.58, a PEG ratio of 2.19 and a beta of 0.76. Sempra has a 12-month low of $64.89 and a 12-month high of $95.77. The company has a quick ratio of 0.47, a current ratio of 0.52 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.89. The business's fifty day simple moving average is $79.31 and its 200 day simple moving average is $83.92.

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

Sempra Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 15th. Investors of record on Thursday, March 20th will be given a $0.645 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, March 20th. This represents a $2.58 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.65%. This is a positive change from Sempra's previous quarterly dividend of $0.62. Sempra's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 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.