Meiji Yasuda Asset Management Co Ltd. Boosts Stake in Sempra (NYSE:SRE)

Meiji Yasuda Asset Management Co Ltd. raised its position in Sempra (NYSE:SRE) by 29.3% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 83,510 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 18,947 shares during the quarter. Meiji Yasuda Asset Management Co Ltd.’s holdings in Sempra were worth $7,325,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Heritage Wealth Management Inc. CA acquired a new position in shares of Sempra in the fourth quarter worth $214,000. Zions Bancorporation N.A. lifted its holdings in Sempra by 50.4% during the 4th quarter. Zions Bancorporation N.A. now owns 13,493 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,184,000 after buying an additional 4,521 shares during the last quarter. TIAA Trust National Association boosted its position in shares of Sempra by 9.5% during the 4th quarter. TIAA Trust National Association now owns 7,565 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $664,000 after acquiring an additional 654 shares in the last quarter. FineMark National Bank & Trust increased its holdings in shares of Sempra by 9.9% in the 4th quarter. FineMark National Bank & Trust now owns 4,813 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $422,000 after acquiring an additional 434 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Congress Wealth Management LLC DE acquired a new stake in shares of Sempra during the 4th quarter worth about $437,000. 89.65% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Transactions at Sempra

In other Sempra news, CEO Jeffrey W. Martin sold 49,737 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, January 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $82.94, for a total value of $4,125,186.78. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 2 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $165.88. This represents a 100.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Director Pablo Ferrero acquired 2,600 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 17th. The stock was acquired at an average price of $70.96 per share, for a total transaction of $184,496.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 15,649 shares in the company, valued at approximately $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. Insiders have purchased a total of 9,319 shares of company stock valued at $651,676 in the last ninety days. 0.24% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have commented on SRE. Guggenheim dropped their price target on shares of Sempra from $95.00 to $87.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, February 26th. Argus lowered shares of Sempra from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Tuesday, March 18th. BMO Capital Markets reduced their price target on shares of Sempra from $92.00 to $78.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, March 4th. UBS Group cut Sempra from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and cut their target price for the stock from $95.00 to $78.00 in a research report on Wednesday, February 26th. Finally, Mizuho reduced their target price on Sempra from $92.00 to $76.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, February 26th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $81.58.

Sempra Trading Up 1.0 %

Shares of Sempra stock opened at $70.22 on Tuesday. The firm has a market cap of $45.74 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.47, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.19 and a beta of 0.76. Sempra has a 52-week low of $64.89 and a 52-week high of $95.77. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $78.23 and its 200-day simple moving average is $83.49. The company has a quick ratio of 0.47, a current ratio of 0.52 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.89.

Sempra (NYSE:SRE) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, February 25th. The utilities provider reported $1.50 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.47 by $0.03. The company had revenue of $3.76 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.73 billion. Sempra had a return on equity of 8.06% and a net margin of 22.63%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 7.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $1.13 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Sempra will post 4.76 earnings per share for the current year.

Sempra Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 15th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, March 20th will be given a dividend of $0.645 per share. This is a positive change from Sempra’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.62. This represents a $2.58 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.67%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, March 20th. Sempra’s payout ratio is presently 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.