Sempra (NYSE:SRE) Shares Purchased by Adage Capital Partners GP L.L.C.

Adage Capital Partners GP L.L.C. raised its stake in Sempra (NYSE:SRE - Free Report) by 2.3% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 1,314,270 shares of the utilities provider's stock after purchasing an additional 30,000 shares during the period. Adage Capital Partners GP L.L.C. owned 0.21% of Sempra worth $115,288,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Crews Bank & Trust purchased a new position in shares of Sempra in the 4th quarter valued at $26,000. Prudent Man Investment Management Inc. acquired a new position in Sempra in the fourth quarter valued at $26,000. Meeder Asset Management Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Sempra during the fourth quarter worth about $29,000. Synergy Investment Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Sempra during the fourth quarter worth about $29,000. Finally, TCTC Holdings LLC increased its position in shares of Sempra by 265.2% during the fourth quarter. TCTC Holdings LLC now owns 336 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $29,000 after purchasing an additional 244 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 89.65% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research analysts recently issued reports on the company. Jefferies Financial Group dropped their price target on Sempra from $77.00 to $75.00 and set a "hold" rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, April 15th. Argus lowered shares of Sempra from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 18th. UBS Group downgraded shares of Sempra from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating and reduced their price target for the company from $95.00 to $78.00 in a research report on Wednesday, February 26th. Mizuho lowered their price objective on shares of Sempra from $92.00 to $76.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, February 26th. Finally, Barclays downgraded shares of Sempra from an "overweight" rating to an "equal weight" rating and decreased their target price for the stock from $95.00 to $72.00 in a research note on Thursday, February 27th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $80.31.

Insider Buying and Selling at Sempra

In other Sempra news, CEO Jeffrey W. Martin sold 49,737 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, January 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $82.94, for a total transaction of $4,125,186.78. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 2 shares in the company, valued at approximately $165.88. This represents a 100.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, EVP Justin Christopher Bird sold 4,817 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, April 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $71.23, for a total value of $343,114.91. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 19,778 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $1,408,786.94. This trade represents a 19.59 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have bought 9,319 shares of company stock valued at $651,676 and have sold 57,309 shares valued at $4,694,019. 0.27% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Sempra Trading Up 2.7 %

Shares of SRE stock opened at $72.34 on Wednesday. The business's fifty day moving average price is $71.94 and its 200 day moving average price is $81.29. The firm has a market capitalization of $47.16 billion, a PE ratio of 15.93, a P/E/G ratio of 2.19 and a beta of 0.65. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.89, a current ratio of 0.52 and a quick ratio of 0.47. Sempra has a 1-year low of $61.90 and a 1-year high of $95.77.

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, beating 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 posted $1.13 EPS. The business's revenue was up 7.6% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Sempra will post 4.76 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Sempra Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, April 15th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, March 20th were given a dividend of $0.645 per share. This represents a $2.58 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.57%. This is an increase from Sempra's previous quarterly dividend of $0.62. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, March 20th. Sempra's payout ratio is presently 58.37%.

Sempra 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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