Sempra (NYSE:SRE) Shares Acquired by SRS Capital Advisors Inc.

SRS Capital Advisors Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Sempra (NYSE:SRE - Free Report) by 874.8% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 7,818 shares of the utilities provider's stock after buying an additional 7,016 shares during the quarter. SRS Capital Advisors Inc.'s holdings in Sempra were worth $686,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. increased its position in Sempra by 633.4% during the 4th quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. now owns 29,917 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $2,624,000 after buying 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. lifted its position in shares of Sempra by 8.8% in the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 3,428,132 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $286,695,000 after purchasing an additional 278,183 shares during the period. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. grew its holdings in Sempra by 1.9% in the third quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 357,107 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $29,865,000 after purchasing an additional 6,709 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Kovitz Investment Group Partners LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Sempra during the third quarter worth $675,000. 89.65% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms have recently commented on SRE. The Goldman Sachs Group cut shares of Sempra from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating and cut their target price for the stock from $99.00 to $76.00 in a research note on Wednesday, February 26th. Mizuho decreased their price objective on Sempra from $92.00 to $76.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, February 26th. Morgan Stanley decreased their price objective on shares of Sempra from $100.00 to $85.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, February 26th. Guggenheim dropped their price objective 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, Jefferies Financial Group reiterated a "hold" rating and set a $77.00 target price (down from $96.00) on shares of Sempra in a research note on Monday. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $81.54.

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Insiders Place Their Bets

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

Sempra Trading Down 3.3 %

Shares of NYSE:SRE traded down $2.37 during trading hours on Thursday, hitting $69.53. 2,972,360 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 5,483,339. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $82.15 and a 200-day moving average price of $84.58. 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 $64.89 and a 1 year high of $95.77. The firm has a market capitalization of $45.30 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.29, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.19 and a beta of 0.78.

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, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $1.47 by $0.03. Sempra had a return on equity of 8.06% and a net margin of 22.63%. The company 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 posted $1.13 EPS. Sempra's revenue for the quarter was up 7.6% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts expect that Sempra will post 4.76 earnings per share for the current 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 given a $0.645 dividend. This is an increase from Sempra's previous quarterly dividend of $0.62. This represents a $2.58 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.71%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, March 20th. Sempra's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 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.