TD Waterhouse Canada Inc. Buys 26,541 Shares of Sempra (NYSE:SRE)

TD Waterhouse Canada Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Sempra (NYSE:SRE - Free Report) by 8.0% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 360,211 shares of the utilities provider's stock after purchasing an additional 26,541 shares during the quarter. TD Waterhouse Canada Inc. owned approximately 0.06% of Sempra worth $31,598,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in Sempra by 0.8% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 63,018,055 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $5,527,944,000 after acquiring an additional 490,269 shares during the period. Wellington Management Group LLP raised its stake in shares of Sempra by 11.9% during the 4th quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 38,407,154 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $3,369,076,000 after acquiring an additional 4,082,261 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC grew its holdings in Sempra by 8.0% in the fourth quarter. FMR LLC now owns 20,489,918 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $1,797,376,000 after purchasing an additional 1,511,313 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Sempra in the 4th quarter worth $1,535,000,000. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Sempra by 2.4% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 13,072,966 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $1,143,248,000 after acquiring an additional 311,094 shares during the last quarter. 89.65% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts recently issued reports on SRE shares. Morgan Stanley boosted their target price on shares of Sempra from $85.00 to $86.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Thursday, March 20th. Mizuho lowered their target price on Sempra from $92.00 to $76.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, February 26th. Argus cut shares of Sempra from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 18th. Jefferies Financial Group reduced their target price on Sempra from $77.00 to $75.00 and set a "hold" rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, April 15th. Finally, 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. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $80.31.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Pablo Ferrero bought 2,600 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on 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 acquisition, the director now directly owns 15,649 shares in the company, valued at $1,110,453.04. This represents a 19.92 % increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, EVP Justin Christopher Bird sold 4,817 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, April 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $71.23, for a total transaction of $343,114.91. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 19,778 shares in the company, 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. In the last three months, insiders have purchased 9,319 shares of company stock worth $651,676 and have sold 57,309 shares worth $4,694,019. 0.27% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Sempra Stock Up 1.4 %

NYSE SRE traded up $1.04 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, reaching $73.35. 4,060,515 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 3,706,657. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $71.72 and a 200-day simple moving average of $81.23. Sempra has a 1-year low of $61.90 and a 1-year high of $95.77. The company has a market cap of $47.82 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 16.16, a P/E/G ratio of 2.19 and a beta of 0.65. 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 data 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. The firm had revenue of $3.76 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.73 billion. Sempra had a return on equity of 8.06% and a net margin of 22.63%. Sempra's quarterly revenue was up 7.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $1.13 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Sempra will post 4.76 EPS for the current year.

Sempra Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, April 15th. Investors of record on Thursday, March 20th were paid 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 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.52%. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, March 20th. Sempra's 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.