Candriam S.C.A. Grows Holdings in Sempra (NYSE:SRE)

Candriam S.C.A. raised its position in Sempra (NYSE:SRE) by 1.1% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 92,206 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after buying an additional 983 shares during the period. Candriam S.C.A.’s holdings in Sempra were worth $8,088,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. FMR LLC raised its holdings in Sempra by 9.1% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 18,978,605 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,587,181,000 after buying an additional 1,582,653 shares during the period. State Street Corp raised its holdings 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 buying an additional 1,539,026 shares during the period. Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new position in Sempra in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $123,614,000. National Bank of Canada FI raised its holdings in Sempra by 201.2% in the third quarter. National Bank of Canada FI now owns 620,394 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $51,882,000 after buying an additional 414,406 shares during the period. Finally, Unigestion Holding SA purchased a new position in Sempra in the third quarter valued at approximately $33,023,000. 89.65% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Sempra news, Director Cynthia J. Warner bought 700 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 6th. The shares were bought at an average price of $70.65 per share, with a total value of $49,455.00. Following the purchase, the director now directly owns 8,759 shares in the company, valued at $618,823.35. The trade was a 8.69 % increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CEO Jeffrey W. Martin sold 49,737 shares of Sempra stock in a transaction dated 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 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 disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.24% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Sempra Price Performance

Shares of NYSE SRE opened at $69.23 on Friday. Sempra has a fifty-two week low of $64.89 and a fifty-two week high of $95.77. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $81.42 and its 200 day simple moving average is $84.39. The company has a quick ratio of 0.47, a current ratio of 0.52 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.89. The stock has a market cap of $45.10 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.25, a P/E/G ratio of 2.19 and a beta of 0.76.

Sempra (NYSE:SRE) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 25th. The utilities provider reported $1.50 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.47 by $0.03. The business had revenue of $3.76 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.73 billion. Sempra had a net margin of 22.63% and a return on equity of 8.06%. The company’s revenue was up 7.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $1.13 earnings per share. Equities analysts expect that Sempra will post 4.76 EPS for the current year.

Sempra Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 15th. Investors of record on Thursday, March 20th will be issued 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 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.73%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, March 20th. Sempra’s payout ratio is presently 58.37%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts recently commented on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company cut their price target on shares of Sempra from $96.00 to $88.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, February 26th. BMO Capital Markets decreased 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. Jefferies Financial Group reissued a “hold” rating and set a $77.00 price target (down previously from $96.00) on shares of Sempra in a research report on Monday, March 3rd. The Goldman Sachs Group downgraded shares of Sempra from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and decreased their price target for the stock from $99.00 to $76.00 in a research report on Wednesday, February 26th. Finally, UBS Group cut Sempra from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and reduced their price objective for the stock from $95.00 to $78.00 in a research note on Wednesday, February 26th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $81.50.

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.