Invesco Ltd. Purchases 2,758,037 Shares of Sempra (NYSE:SRE)

Invesco Ltd. grew its stake in Sempra (NYSE:SRE - Free Report) by 70.6% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 6,666,240 shares of the utilities provider's stock after buying an additional 2,758,037 shares during the quarter. Invesco Ltd. owned 1.05% of Sempra worth $584,763,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Crews Bank & Trust bought a new position in Sempra during the 4th quarter worth about $26,000. Prudent Man Investment Management Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Sempra during the fourth quarter worth about $26,000. Synergy Investment Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Sempra during the fourth quarter worth about $29,000. TCTC Holdings LLC raised its position in Sempra by 265.2% in the 4th quarter. TCTC Holdings LLC now owns 336 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $29,000 after buying an additional 244 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Meeder Asset Management Inc. bought a new stake in Sempra in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $29,000. Institutional investors own 89.65% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on SRE shares. Guggenheim decreased their price target 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. Morgan Stanley lifted their price target on shares of Sempra from $85.00 to $86.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Thursday, March 20th. Barclays cut shares of Sempra from an "overweight" rating to an "equal weight" rating and cut their price target for the stock from $95.00 to $72.00 in a research report on Thursday, February 27th. Citigroup decreased their price objective on Sempra from $93.00 to $70.00 and set a "neutral" rating for the company in a report on Wednesday. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company dropped their target price on Sempra from $88.00 to $85.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, March 26th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $80.46.

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Sempra Stock Performance

Sempra stock traded up $1.46 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $68.36. 4,169,530 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 3,684,997. Sempra has a fifty-two week low of $61.90 and a fifty-two week high of $95.77. The stock has a market cap of $44.56 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.06, a P/E/G ratio of 2.19 and a beta of 0.65. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $73.60 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $81.88. 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 (NYSE:SRE - Get Free Report) last announced its 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 business had revenue of $3.76 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.73 billion. Sempra had a net margin of 22.63% and a return on equity of 8.06%. Sempra's revenue was up 7.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $1.13 EPS. On average, research analysts expect that Sempra will post 4.76 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Sempra Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 15th. Investors of record on Thursday, March 20th will be issued a dividend of $0.645 per share. This is a boost from Sempra's previous quarterly dividend of $0.62. This represents a $2.58 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.77%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, March 20th. Sempra's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 58.37%.

Insider Activity at Sempra

In other news, CEO Jeffrey W. Martin sold 49,737 shares of Sempra stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 directly owns 2 shares in the company, valued at approximately $165.88. The trade was a 100.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, Director Pablo Ferrero purchased 2,600 shares of Sempra stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 17th. The shares were bought at an average cost of $70.96 per share, for a total transaction of $184,496.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 15,649 shares of the company's stock, valued at $1,110,453.04. This represents a 19.92 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders bought 9,319 shares of company stock worth $651,676 and sold 57,309 shares worth $4,694,019. 0.24% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.