Sempra (NYSE:SRE) Shares Purchased by Zions Bancorporation N.A.

Zions Bancorporation N.A. lifted its holdings in Sempra (NYSE:SRE) by 50.4% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 13,493 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after buying an additional 4,521 shares during the quarter. Zions Bancorporation N.A.’s holdings in Sempra were worth $1,184,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the business. Crews Bank & Trust purchased a new stake in Sempra during the 4th quarter worth $26,000. Synergy Investment Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Sempra in the fourth quarter worth about $29,000. TCTC Holdings LLC grew its stake in shares of Sempra by 265.2% in the fourth quarter. TCTC Holdings LLC now owns 336 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $29,000 after buying an additional 244 shares in the last quarter. Human Investing LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Sempra in the fourth quarter valued at about $31,000. Finally, ST Germain D J Co. Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Sempra by 225.6% during the 4th quarter. ST Germain D J Co. Inc. now owns 433 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $38,000 after buying an additional 300 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 89.65% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts have issued reports on SRE shares. Barclays downgraded shares of Sempra from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and lowered their price objective for the company from $95.00 to $72.00 in a research report on Thursday, February 27th. BMO Capital Markets decreased their target price on shares of Sempra from $92.00 to $78.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, March 4th. The Goldman Sachs Group downgraded shares of Sempra from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and dropped their price target for the stock from $99.00 to $76.00 in a research note on Wednesday, February 26th. Morgan Stanley upped their price objective on shares of Sempra from $85.00 to $86.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 20th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company cut their price target on Sempra from $96.00 to $88.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, February 26th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $81.58.

Sempra Price Performance

Shares of SRE opened at $69.30 on Wednesday. Sempra has a 52 week low of $64.89 and a 52 week high of $95.77. The company has a current ratio of 0.52, a quick ratio of 0.47 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.89. The firm has a market cap of $45.15 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.26, a PEG ratio of 2.19 and a beta of 0.76. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $78.05 and a 200-day moving average of $83.40.

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

Sempra Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 15th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, March 20th will be issued a $0.645 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, March 20th. This represents a $2.58 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.72%. This is a boost from Sempra’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.62. Sempra’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 58.37%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Sempra

In related news, Director Michael N. Mears bought 1,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, March 10th. The shares were bought at an average cost of $67.70 per share, for a total transaction of $67,700.00. Following the completion of the purchase, the director now owns 5,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $338,500. This represents a 25.00 % increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CEO Jeffrey W. Martin sold 49,737 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated 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 transaction, 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. Insiders purchased a total of 9,319 shares of company stock worth $651,676 over the last ninety days. Company insiders own 0.24% of the company’s stock.

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.