Sempra (NYSE:SRE) Shares Purchased by Avantax Planning Partners Inc.

Avantax Planning Partners Inc. increased its position in shares of Sempra (NYSE:SRE) by 2.0% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 7,423 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 147 shares during the quarter. Avantax Planning Partners Inc.’s holdings in Sempra were worth $651,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of SRE. Crews Bank & Trust acquired a new stake in Sempra during the fourth quarter worth about $26,000. Synergy Investment Management LLC acquired a new stake in Sempra during the fourth quarter worth about $29,000. Human Investing LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Sempra during the fourth quarter valued at about $31,000. ST Germain D J Co. Inc. increased its position in shares of Sempra by 225.6% during the fourth quarter. ST Germain D J Co. Inc. now owns 433 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $38,000 after acquiring an additional 300 shares during the last quarter. Finally, LRI Investments LLC increased its position in shares of Sempra by 180.4% during the third quarter. LRI Investments LLC now owns 443 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $40,000 after acquiring an additional 285 shares during the last quarter. 89.65% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have weighed in on SRE. UBS Group cut shares of Sempra from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and dropped their price target for the company from $95.00 to $78.00 in a research report on Wednesday, February 26th. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price target on shares of Sempra from $96.00 to $88.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, February 26th. Guggenheim dropped their price target on shares of Sempra from $95.00 to $87.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, February 26th. Barclays cut shares of Sempra from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and dropped their price target for the company from $95.00 to $72.00 in a research report on Thursday, February 27th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group cut shares of Sempra from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and dropped their price target for the company from $99.00 to $76.00 in a research report on Wednesday, February 26th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $81.50.

Sempra Trading Down 1.1 %

Shares of SRE stock opened at $68.70 on Wednesday. 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 stock has a market capitalization of $44.75 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.13, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.19 and a beta of 0.76. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $80.68 and a 200 day moving average price of $84.27. Sempra has a fifty-two week low of $64.89 and a fifty-two week high of $95.77.

Sempra (NYSE:SRE) last issued its quarterly earnings results 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 net margin of 22.63% and a return on equity of 8.06%. The company had revenue of $3.76 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.73 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $1.13 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 7.6% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts predict that Sempra will post 4.76 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Sempra Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 15th. Investors of record on Thursday, March 20th will be paid a $0.645 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, March 20th. This represents a $2.58 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.76%. This is an increase from Sempra’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.62. Sempra’s payout ratio is currently 58.37%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, Director Michael N. Mears purchased 1,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 10th. The stock was bought at an average price of $67.70 per share, for a total transaction of $67,700.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the director now directly owns 5,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $338,500. The trade was a 25.00 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CEO Jeffrey W. Martin sold 49,737 shares of the business’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 transaction of $4,125,186.78. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now 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. 0.27% of the stock is owned by insiders.

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.