Sempra (NYSE:SRE) Shares Acquired by Northwest & Ethical Investments L.P.

Northwest & Ethical Investments L.P. grew its holdings in Sempra (NYSE:SRE) by 623.3% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 17,359 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 14,959 shares during the period. Northwest & Ethical Investments L.P.’s holdings in Sempra were worth $1,522,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other large investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Sempra by 633.4% in the 4th quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc. now owns 29,917 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $2,624,000 after purchasing an additional 25,838 shares during the last quarter. Unigestion Holding SA acquired a new position in shares of Sempra in the 3rd quarter valued at $33,023,000. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted its stake 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 valued at $286,695,000 after purchasing an additional 278,183 shares during the last quarter. Kovitz Investment Group Partners LLC acquired a new position in shares of Sempra in the 3rd quarter valued at $675,000. Finally, Empower Advisory Group LLC lifted its stake in shares of Sempra by 2.6% in the 4th quarter. Empower Advisory Group LLC now owns 1,071,091 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $93,956,000 after purchasing an additional 26,821 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 89.65% of the company’s stock.

Sempra Trading Down 0.6 %

SRE opened at $69.56 on Friday. Sempra has a one year low of $64.89 and a one year high of $95.77. The company has a market cap of $45.31 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.32, a PEG ratio of 2.19 and a beta of 0.76. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.89, a quick ratio of 0.47 and a current ratio of 0.52. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $78.36 and its 200-day simple moving average is $83.57.

Sempra (NYSE:SRE) last released its quarterly earnings data 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 business had revenue of $3.76 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.73 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $1.13 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.6% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Sempra will post 4.76 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Sempra Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 15th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, March 20th will be issued a $0.645 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, March 20th. This represents a $2.58 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.71%. This is an increase from Sempra’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.62. Sempra’s dividend payout ratio is presently 58.37%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms recently issued reports on SRE. Morgan Stanley increased their target price on Sempra from $85.00 to $86.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday. The Goldman Sachs Group lowered Sempra from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and decreased their target price for the stock from $99.00 to $76.00 in a research note on Wednesday, February 26th. Barclays lowered 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. Argus lowered Sempra from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company decreased their target price on Sempra from $96.00 to $88.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, February 26th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $81.58.

Insider Activity

In other Sempra news, Director Pablo Ferrero purchased 2,600 shares of Sempra stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 17th. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $70.96 per share, with a total value of $184,496.00. Following the acquisition, 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 purchase was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, SVP Alexander Lisa Larroque sold 2,755 shares of the firm’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 $1,139,236.65. This represents a 16.54 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have acquired 9,319 shares of company stock worth $651,676. 0.24% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.