Generali Asset Management SPA SGR Acquires New Position in Sempra (NYSE:SRE)

Generali Asset Management SPA SGR purchased a new stake in Sempra (NYSE:SRE) in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund purchased 100,514 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $8,817,000.

Several other large investors have also modified their holdings of SRE. Empowered Funds LLC raised its holdings in shares of Sempra by 9.7% in the 3rd quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 10,744 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $899,000 after purchasing an additional 951 shares in the last quarter. Natixis Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of Sempra by 35.7% in the 3rd quarter. Natixis Advisors LLC now owns 594,683 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $49,733,000 after purchasing an additional 156,397 shares in the last quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans raised its holdings in shares of Sempra by 6.8% in the 3rd quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans now owns 31,674 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $2,649,000 after purchasing an additional 2,010 shares in the last quarter. Swiss National Bank raised its stake in shares of Sempra by 0.4% during the 3rd quarter. Swiss National Bank now owns 1,878,400 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $157,091,000 after acquiring an additional 6,700 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Prudent Man Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of Sempra by 19.9% during the 3rd quarter. Prudent Man Advisors LLC now owns 10,675 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $893,000 after acquiring an additional 1,773 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 89.65% of the company’s stock.

Sempra Stock Performance

NYSE:SRE opened at $71.03 on Tuesday. 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 company has a fifty day moving average of $79.31 and a two-hundred day moving average of $83.92. The stock has a market capitalization of $46.27 billion, a PE ratio of 15.65, a P/E/G ratio of 2.19 and a beta of 0.76. Sempra has a fifty-two week low of $64.89 and a fifty-two week high of $95.77.

Sempra (NYSE:SRE) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 25th. The utilities provider reported $1.50 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.47 by $0.03. The company had revenue of $3.76 billion during 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 firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $1.13 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts forecast that Sempra will post 4.76 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Sempra Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 15th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, March 20th will be given a $0.645 dividend. This represents a $2.58 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.63%. This is a boost from Sempra’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.62. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, March 20th. Sempra’s dividend payout ratio is 58.37%.

Insider Activity

In other Sempra news, Director Pablo Ferrero bought 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, for a total transaction 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. This represents a 19.92 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, CEO Jeffrey W. Martin sold 49,737 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, January 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $82.94, for a total transaction of $4,125,186.78. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $165.88. This represents a 100.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders acquired 9,319 shares of company stock worth $651,676 over the last three months. Insiders own 0.24% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts recently commented on the stock. Jefferies Financial Group reiterated a “hold” rating and set a $77.00 price objective (down previously from $96.00) on shares of Sempra in a research note on Monday, March 3rd. BMO Capital Markets dropped their target price on shares of Sempra from $92.00 to $78.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, March 4th. UBS Group downgraded shares of Sempra from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and dropped their target price for the stock from $95.00 to $78.00 in a research report on Wednesday, February 26th. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price objective 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. Finally, Barclays downgraded shares of Sempra from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and dropped their price objective for the company from $95.00 to $72.00 in a report on Thursday, February 27th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average 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.