Sempra (NYSE:SRE) Stake Reduced by Wells Fargo & Company MN

Wells Fargo & Company MN lowered its stake in shares of Sempra (NYSE:SRE - Free Report) by 3.5% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 1,671,033 shares of the utilities provider's stock after selling 60,809 shares during the period. Wells Fargo & Company MN owned approximately 0.26% of Sempra worth $146,583,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Crews Bank & Trust purchased a new position in Sempra in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $26,000. Prudent Man Investment Management Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Sempra in the 4th quarter valued at $26,000. Meeder Asset Management Inc. purchased a new stake in Sempra during the 4th quarter worth $29,000. Synergy Investment Management LLC acquired a new stake in Sempra in the 4th quarter valued at $29,000. Finally, TCTC Holdings LLC raised its position in Sempra by 265.2% in the fourth quarter. TCTC Holdings LLC now owns 336 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $29,000 after purchasing an additional 244 shares during the period. 89.65% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, SVP Alexander Lisa Larroque sold 2,755 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $81.93, for a total value of $225,717.15. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 13,905 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $1,139,236.65. This represents a 16.54 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, CEO Jeffrey W. Martin sold 49,737 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, January 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $82.94, for a total transaction of $4,125,186.78. Following the transaction, 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. In the last three months, insiders purchased 9,319 shares of company stock worth $651,676 and sold 57,309 shares worth $4,694,019. 0.24% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts recently commented on SRE shares. Mizuho reduced their price target on Sempra from $92.00 to $76.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, February 26th. Guggenheim lowered their price target on shares of Sempra from $95.00 to $87.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, February 26th. The Goldman Sachs Group lowered shares of Sempra from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating and cut their price objective for the stock from $99.00 to $76.00 in a report on Wednesday, February 26th. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their target price on Sempra from $88.00 to $85.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, March 26th. Finally, Argus downgraded Sempra from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Tuesday, March 18th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $80.46.

Sempra Stock Performance

SRE traded down $0.11 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $66.79. 897,247 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 3,664,895. 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 12 month low of $61.90 and a 12 month high of $95.77. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $73.86 and a 200-day simple moving average of $81.98. The stock has a market cap of $43.54 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 14.72, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.19 and a beta of 0.65.

Sempra (NYSE:SRE - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 25th. The utilities provider reported $1.50 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate 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 analyst estimates of $4.73 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $1.13 EPS. The company's quarterly revenue was up 7.6% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts anticipate that Sempra will post 4.76 earnings per share for the current year.

Sempra Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 15th. Investors of record on Thursday, March 20th will be given a dividend of $0.645 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, March 20th. This represents a $2.58 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.86%. This is a positive change from Sempra's previous quarterly dividend of $0.62. Sempra's payout ratio is currently 58.37%.

About Sempra

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.