Summit Investment Advisors Inc. Decreases Stake in Sempra (NYSE:SRE)

Summit Investment Advisors Inc. cut its position in Sempra (NYSE:SRE) by 3.7% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 6,306 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 240 shares during the period. Summit Investment Advisors Inc.’s holdings in Sempra were worth $553,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in Sempra in the fourth quarter valued at $1,535,000,000. Wellington Management Group LLP increased its holdings in shares of Sempra by 11.9% in the 4th quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 38,407,154 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $3,369,076,000 after acquiring an additional 4,082,261 shares during the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. raised its position in shares of Sempra by 70.6% during the 4th quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 6,666,240 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $584,763,000 after acquiring an additional 2,758,037 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC lifted its stake in Sempra by 8.0% during the fourth quarter. FMR LLC now owns 20,489,918 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,797,376,000 after purchasing an additional 1,511,313 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new position in Sempra in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $123,614,000. 89.65% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts have weighed in on the stock. Barclays cut shares of Sempra from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and cut their price objective for the stock from $95.00 to $72.00 in a report on Thursday, February 27th. The Goldman Sachs Group cut shares of Sempra from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and reduced their price target for the company from $99.00 to $76.00 in a research report on Wednesday, February 26th. Argus lowered Sempra from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 18th. Mizuho reduced their target price on Sempra from $92.00 to $76.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, February 26th. Finally, Morgan Stanley raised their price target on Sempra from $85.00 to $86.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 20th. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $80.31.

Sempra Stock Performance

NYSE:SRE 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. The firm has a market cap of $46.38 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.67, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.19 and a beta of 0.65. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $72.42 and its 200 day moving average price is $81.45. Sempra has a 1-year low of $61.90 and a 1-year high of $95.77.

Sempra (NYSE:SRE) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, February 25th. The utilities provider reported $1.50 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.47 by $0.03. The business had revenue of $3.76 billion for 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 business’s quarterly 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 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Sempra will post 4.76 EPS for the current year.

Sempra Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, April 15th. Investors of record on Thursday, March 20th were issued a dividend of $0.645 per share. This represents a $2.58 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.63%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, March 20th. This is a positive change from Sempra’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.62. Sempra’s dividend payout ratio is currently 58.37%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CEO Jeffrey W. Martin sold 49,737 shares of the firm’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 value of $4,125,186.78. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $165.88. This trade represents a 100.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, SVP Alexander Lisa Larroque sold 2,755 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $81.93, for a total value of $225,717.15. Following the sale, the senior vice president now owns 13,905 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,139,236.65. The trade was a 16.54 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders acquired 9,319 shares of company stock worth $651,676 and sold 57,309 shares worth $4,694,019. 0.27% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.