B. Metzler seel. Sohn & Co. AG Has $3.64 Million Stock Holdings in Sempra (NYSE:SRE)

B. Metzler seel. Sohn & Co. AG lowered its holdings in shares of Sempra (NYSE:SRE) by 37.6% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 41,539 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 25,012 shares during the period. B. Metzler seel. Sohn & Co. AG’s holdings in Sempra were worth $3,644,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in shares of Sempra by 0.8% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 63,018,055 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $5,527,944,000 after buying an additional 490,269 shares during the period. Wellington Management Group LLP grew its holdings in Sempra by 11.9% in the fourth quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 38,407,154 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $3,369,076,000 after purchasing an additional 4,082,261 shares during the period. State Street Corp increased its stake in Sempra by 4.9% in the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 32,940,620 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $2,774,974,000 after purchasing an additional 1,539,026 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of Sempra during the fourth quarter valued at about $1,535,000,000. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Sempra by 1.2% during 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 purchasing an additional 145,873 shares in the last quarter. 89.65% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Sempra Trading Up 0.3 %

NYSE:SRE opened at $71.57 on Wednesday. Sempra has a 52 week low of $64.89 and a 52 week high of $95.77. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $76.65 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $82.99. The firm has a market cap of $46.62 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.76, a price-to-earnings-growth 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.

Sempra (NYSE:SRE) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 25th. The utilities provider reported $1.50 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 business had revenue of $3.76 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.73 billion. During the same period last year, the company posted $1.13 earnings per share. Sempra’s quarterly revenue was up 7.6% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts expect that Sempra will post 4.76 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Sempra Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 15th. Investors of record on Thursday, March 20th will be issued a $0.645 dividend. This is an increase from Sempra’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.62. This represents a $2.58 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.60%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, March 20th. Sempra’s payout ratio is 58.37%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts recently commented on SRE shares. Argus lowered Sempra from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 18th. Guggenheim cut their target price on Sempra from $95.00 to $87.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, February 26th. UBS Group downgraded shares of Sempra from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and lowered their price objective for the stock from $95.00 to $78.00 in a report on Wednesday, February 26th. Barclays cut shares of Sempra from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and reduced their price objective for the company from $95.00 to $72.00 in a report on Thursday, February 27th. Finally, 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 report on Monday, March 3rd. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Sempra currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $81.33.

Insider Activity at Sempra

In related news, CEO Jeffrey W. Martin sold 49,737 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 2 shares in the company, 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 this link. Also, Director Pablo Ferrero bought 2,600 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, March 17th. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $70.96 per share, with a total value of $184,496.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 15,649 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,110,453.04. The trade was a 19.92 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders purchased 9,319 shares of company stock worth $651,676. 0.24% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Sempra 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.