Yaupon Capital Management LP Raises Stock Position in Sempra (NYSE:SRE)

Yaupon Capital Management LP raised its stake in shares of Sempra (NYSE:SRE) by 78.1% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 318,146 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 139,467 shares during the quarter. Sempra makes up 1.2% of Yaupon Capital Management LP’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 20th largest position. Yaupon Capital Management LP’s holdings in Sempra were worth $27,908,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of SRE. Fayez Sarofim & Co acquired a new stake in Sempra in the 4th quarter valued at about $241,000. J. Safra Sarasin Holding AG acquired a new position in Sempra during the fourth quarter worth $1,347,000. Stifel Financial Corp grew its holdings in Sempra by 1.1% in the 4th quarter. Stifel Financial Corp now owns 474,564 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $41,629,000 after buying an additional 5,350 shares in the last quarter. TD Waterhouse Canada Inc. increased its stake in shares of Sempra by 8.0% in the 4th quarter. TD Waterhouse Canada Inc. now owns 360,211 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $31,598,000 after acquiring an additional 26,541 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Teachers Retirement System of The State of Kentucky raised its holdings in shares of Sempra by 53.6% during the 4th quarter. Teachers Retirement System of The State of Kentucky now owns 211,061 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $18,514,000 after acquiring an additional 73,633 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 89.65% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, SVP Alexander Lisa Larroque sold 2,755 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $81.93, for a total transaction of $225,717.15. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 13,905 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,139,236.65. This represents a 16.54 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, CEO Jeffrey W. Martin sold 49,737 shares of Sempra stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2 shares in the company, valued at approximately $165.88. This represents a 100.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have bought 9,319 shares of company stock worth $651,676 and have sold 57,309 shares worth $4,694,019. 0.27% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

SRE has been the subject of several analyst reports. Citigroup dropped their price target on shares of Sempra from $93.00 to $70.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, April 9th. Guggenheim reduced their target price on Sempra from $95.00 to $87.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock 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. Morgan Stanley boosted their price objective on Sempra from $85.00 to $86.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, March 20th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets decreased their price target on shares of Sempra from $92.00 to $78.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, March 4th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $80.31.

Sempra Price Performance

Shares of NYSE SRE opened at $70.40 on Tuesday. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $72.17 and its 200 day simple moving average is $81.35. The stock has a market cap of $45.89 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.51, a P/E/G ratio of 2.19 and a beta of 0.65. Sempra has a fifty-two week low of $61.90 and a fifty-two week high of $95.77. The company has a quick ratio of 0.47, a current ratio of 0.52 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.89.

Sempra (NYSE:SRE) last released 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. Sempra had a return on equity of 8.06% and a net margin of 22.63%. The business had revenue of $3.76 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.73 billion. During the same period last year, the company posted $1.13 EPS. The company’s revenue was up 7.6% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts expect that Sempra will post 4.76 EPS for the current year.

Sempra Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, April 15th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, March 20th were given a $0.645 dividend. This is an increase from Sempra’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.62. The ex-dividend date was Thursday, March 20th. This represents a $2.58 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.66%. Sempra’s dividend payout ratio is presently 58.37%.

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.