Northwest & Ethical Investments L.P. Increases Stock Holdings in Sempra (NYSE:SRE)

Northwest & Ethical Investments L.P. increased its stake in shares of Sempra (NYSE:SRE - Free Report) by 623.3% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 17,359 shares of the utilities provider's stock after buying an additional 14,959 shares during the quarter. Northwest & Ethical Investments L.P.'s holdings in Sempra were worth $1,522,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Blueshift Asset Management LLC purchased a new position in Sempra during the 4th quarter worth approximately $280,000. Teacher Retirement System of Texas raised its holdings in shares of Sempra by 781.4% during the fourth quarter. Teacher Retirement System of Texas now owns 37,346 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $3,276,000 after purchasing an additional 33,109 shares during the last quarter. Generali Investments Management Co LLC purchased a new position in shares of Sempra during the fourth quarter worth $1,666,000. VSM Wealth Advisory LLC acquired a new position in Sempra during the fourth quarter valued at $44,000. Finally, Enhancing Capital LLC purchased a new stake in Sempra in the fourth quarter valued at $1,632,000. 89.65% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director Cynthia J. Warner bought 700 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 6th. The stock was bought at an average price of $70.65 per share, with a total value of $49,455.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the director now directly owns 8,759 shares in the company, valued at $618,823.35. This represents a 8.69 % increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, Director Pablo Ferrero purchased 2,600 shares of Sempra stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 17th. The stock was bought at an average cost of $70.96 per share, for a total transaction of $184,496.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the director now directly 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. In the last ninety days, insiders acquired 9,319 shares of company stock valued at $651,676. 0.24% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Remove Ads

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

SRE has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Barclays lowered Sempra from an "overweight" rating to an "equal weight" rating and reduced their price objective for the company from $95.00 to $72.00 in a research note on Thursday, February 27th. The Goldman Sachs Group downgraded Sempra from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating and decreased their price target for the company from $99.00 to $76.00 in a report on Wednesday, February 26th. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price objective on shares of Sempra from $88.00 to $85.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday. Guggenheim decreased their target price on shares of Sempra from $95.00 to $87.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, February 26th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets dropped their price target on shares of Sempra from $92.00 to $78.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, March 4th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $81.33.

Sempra Price Performance

SRE stock traded up $1.65 during midday trading on Wednesday, reaching $70.76. The stock had a trading volume of 5,304,519 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,365,245. Sempra has a 52-week low of $64.89 and a 52-week high of $95.77. The company has a market cap of $46.10 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.59, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.19 and a beta of 0.76. The company's fifty day simple moving average is $78.05 and its 200 day simple moving average is $83.40. The company has a current ratio of 0.52, a quick ratio of 0.47 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.89.

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, topping analysts' consensus estimates 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 the consensus estimate of $4.73 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $1.13 EPS. The business's revenue was up 7.6% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Sempra will post 4.76 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Sempra Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared 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 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 3.65%. Sempra's dividend payout ratio 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.