Raymond James Financial Inc. Buys Shares of 1,409,185 Sempra (NYSE:SRE)

Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new stake in Sempra (NYSE:SRE - Free Report) in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor bought 1,409,185 shares of the utilities provider's stock, valued at approximately $123,614,000. Raymond James Financial Inc. owned approximately 0.22% of Sempra as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. increased its stake in Sempra by 633.4% in the fourth quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. now owns 29,917 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $2,624,000 after purchasing an additional 25,838 shares in the last quarter. Unigestion Holding SA bought a new stake in shares of Sempra during the third quarter worth $33,023,000. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its position in shares of Sempra by 8.8% during the third quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 3,428,132 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $286,695,000 after acquiring an additional 278,183 shares in the last quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. increased its position in shares of Sempra by 1.9% during the third quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 357,107 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $29,865,000 after acquiring an additional 6,709 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Kovitz Investment Group Partners LLC bought a new stake in shares of Sempra during the third quarter worth $675,000. Institutional investors own 89.65% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price objective on shares of Sempra from $96.00 to $88.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, February 26th. Guggenheim lowered their price objective on shares of Sempra from $95.00 to $87.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, February 26th. Morgan Stanley lowered their price objective on shares of Sempra from $100.00 to $85.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, February 26th. BMO Capital Markets lowered their price objective on shares of Sempra from $92.00 to $78.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, March 4th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group cut shares of Sempra from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating and reduced their target price for the stock from $99.00 to $76.00 in a report on Wednesday, February 26th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $81.50.

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Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO Jeffrey W. Martin sold 49,737 shares of the business's 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 sale, the chief executive officer now owns 2 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $165.88. The trade was a 100.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, SVP Alexander Lisa Larroque sold 2,755 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $81.93, for a total transaction of $225,717.15. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 13,905 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $1,139,236.65. The trade was a 16.54 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 0.24% of the company's stock.

Sempra Price Performance

NYSE:SRE opened at $69.23 on Friday. Sempra has a 1-year low of $64.89 and a 1-year high of $95.77. The company has a current ratio of 0.52, a quick ratio of 0.47 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.89. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $81.42 and a 200 day simple moving average of $84.42. The stock has a market capitalization of $45.10 billion, a PE ratio of 15.25, a P/E/G ratio of 2.19 and a beta of 0.76.

Sempra (NYSE:SRE - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, February 25th. The utilities provider reported $1.50 earnings per share 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 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 business earned $1.13 earnings per share. The firm's 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 business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 15th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, March 20th will be given a dividend of $0.645 per share. This represents a $2.58 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.73%. This is a boost from Sempra's previous quarterly dividend of $0.62. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, March 20th. Sempra's 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.

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