Allstate Corp Invests $1.66 Million in Sempra (NYSE:SRE)

Allstate Corp purchased a new stake in Sempra (NYSE:SRE) during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor purchased 18,951 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $1,662,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in shares of Sempra by 0.8% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 63,018,055 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $5,527,944,000 after purchasing an additional 490,269 shares during the period. Wellington Management Group LLP raised its position in shares of Sempra by 0.4% during the 3rd quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 34,324,893 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $2,870,591,000 after purchasing an additional 128,847 shares during the last quarter. State Street Corp lifted its stake in Sempra by 4.9% in the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 32,940,620 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $2,774,974,000 after buying an additional 1,539,026 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in Sempra in the 4th quarter worth about $1,535,000,000. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in Sempra by 1.2% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 12,761,872 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,063,007,000 after buying an additional 145,873 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 89.65% of the company’s stock.

Sempra Stock Down 0.6 %

Shares of NYSE SRE opened at $69.65 on Monday. The company has a market capitalization of $45.37 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.34, a P/E/G ratio of 2.19 and a beta of 0.76. Sempra has a 1 year low of $64.89 and a 1 year high of $95.77. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.89, a current ratio of 0.52 and a quick ratio of 0.47. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $77.23 and a 200-day simple moving average of $83.15.

Sempra (NYSE:SRE) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 25th. The utilities provider reported $1.50 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping 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 firm had revenue of $3.76 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.73 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $1.13 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 7.6% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts predict 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. Stockholders of record on Thursday, March 20th will be issued a $0.645 dividend. 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 3.70%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, March 20th. Sempra’s dividend payout ratio is currently 58.37%.

Insider Activity at Sempra

In other news, Director Pablo Ferrero purchased 2,600 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 17th. The stock was acquired at an average cost 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 position. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, CEO Jeffrey W. Martin sold 49,737 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, January 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $82.94, for a total value 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. In the last quarter, insiders purchased 9,319 shares of company stock worth $651,676. Insiders own 0.24% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

SRE has been the topic of several research reports. Jefferies Financial Group restated a “hold” rating and issued a $77.00 target price (down previously from $96.00) on shares of Sempra in a research report on Monday, March 3rd. UBS Group cut shares of Sempra from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and lowered their target price for the stock from $95.00 to $78.00 in a research note on Wednesday, February 26th. Barclays cut shares of Sempra from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and reduced their target price for the company from $95.00 to $72.00 in a research report on Thursday, February 27th. The Goldman Sachs Group lowered shares of Sempra from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and lowered their price target for the stock from $99.00 to $76.00 in a research report on Wednesday, February 26th. Finally, Argus downgraded shares of Sempra from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 18th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Sempra has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $81.33.

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.