Evergreen Capital Management LLC Has $670,000 Holdings in Sempra (NYSE:SRE)

Evergreen Capital Management LLC decreased its holdings in Sempra (NYSE:SRE) by 5.0% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 7,581 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 403 shares during the period. Evergreen Capital Management LLC’s holdings in Sempra were worth $670,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Crews Bank & Trust purchased a new position in Sempra during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $26,000. Prudent Man Investment Management Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Sempra during the 4th quarter valued at $26,000. Synergy Investment Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Sempra during the 4th quarter valued at $29,000. TCTC Holdings LLC grew its holdings in shares of Sempra by 265.2% during the 4th quarter. TCTC Holdings LLC now owns 336 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $29,000 after acquiring an additional 244 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Meeder Asset Management Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Sempra in the fourth quarter worth $29,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 89.65% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Sempra

In related news, CEO Jeffrey W. Martin sold 49,737 shares of the business’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 directly owns 2 shares in the company, valued at $165.88. The trade was a 100.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, Director Michael N. Mears purchased 1,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, March 10th. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $67.70 per share, with a total value of $67,700.00. Following the acquisition, the director now owns 5,000 shares in the company, valued at approximately $338,500. This represents a 25.00 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders purchased 9,319 shares of company stock worth $651,676 and sold 57,309 shares worth $4,694,019. Corporate insiders own 0.27% of the company’s stock.

Sempra Stock Up 1.1 %

Sempra stock opened at $71.14 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.89, a current ratio of 0.52 and a quick ratio of 0.47. Sempra has a fifty-two week low of $61.90 and a fifty-two week high of $95.77. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $72.42 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $81.45. The firm has a market cap of $46.38 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.67, a P/E/G ratio of 2.19 and a beta of 0.65.

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 the consensus estimate of $1.47 by $0.03. The business had revenue of $3.76 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.73 billion. Sempra had a return on equity of 8.06% and a net margin of 22.63%. The firm’s revenue was up 7.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $1.13 EPS. As a group, analysts forecast that Sempra will post 4.76 earnings per share for the current year.

Sempra Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, April 15th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, March 20th were paid a $0.645 dividend. This is an increase from Sempra’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.62. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, March 20th. This represents a $2.58 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.63%. Sempra’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 58.37%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts recently issued reports on the company. Mizuho reduced their price objective on Sempra from $92.00 to $76.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, February 26th. Jefferies Financial Group reduced their price target on Sempra from $77.00 to $75.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a report on Tuesday. Barclays downgraded Sempra from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and dropped their price objective for the stock from $95.00 to $72.00 in a report on Thursday, February 27th. BMO Capital Markets reduced 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. Finally, UBS Group lowered shares of Sempra from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and dropped their price target for the stock from $95.00 to $78.00 in a research note on Wednesday, February 26th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $80.31.

About Sempra

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.