Synergy Investment Management LLC Purchases New Shares in Sempra (NYSE:SRE)

Synergy Investment Management LLC purchased a new stake in Sempra (NYSE:SRE) in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm purchased 327 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $29,000.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Crews Bank & Trust acquired a new position in shares of Sempra in the 4th quarter valued at $26,000. Human Investing LLC acquired a new position in shares of Sempra in the 4th quarter valued at $31,000. Hollencrest Capital Management boosted its position in shares of Sempra by 250.0% in the 3rd quarter. Hollencrest Capital Management now owns 378 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $32,000 after purchasing an additional 270 shares during the period. ST Germain D J Co. Inc. boosted its position in shares of Sempra by 225.6% in the 4th quarter. ST Germain D J Co. Inc. now owns 433 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $38,000 after purchasing an additional 300 shares during the period. Finally, LRI Investments LLC boosted its position in shares of Sempra by 180.4% in the 3rd quarter. LRI Investments LLC now owns 443 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $40,000 after purchasing an additional 285 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 89.65% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Sempra

In other Sempra news, SVP Alexander Lisa Larroque sold 2,755 shares of Sempra stock in a transaction that occurred 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 transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 13,905 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,139,236.65. The trade was a 16.54 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO Jeffrey W. Martin sold 49,737 shares of Sempra 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 in the company, valued at approximately $165.88. This represents a 100.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.24% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have commented on SRE. The Goldman Sachs Group lowered Sempra from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and decreased their price objective for the stock from $99.00 to $76.00 in a research report on Wednesday, February 26th. Mizuho decreased 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. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price objective on Sempra from $96.00 to $88.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, February 26th. Evercore ISI raised their price objective on Sempra from $84.00 to $88.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, November 7th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets decreased their price objective on Sempra from $92.00 to $78.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday. Four analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and nine have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Sempra has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $81.54.

Sempra Stock Up 2.0 %

Shares of SRE stock opened at $72.01 on Thursday. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $82.15 and its 200 day simple moving average is $84.58. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.89, a quick ratio of 0.47 and a current ratio of 0.52. Sempra has a twelve month low of $64.89 and a twelve month high of $95.77. The company has a market capitalization of $46.91 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.86, a PEG ratio of 2.19 and a beta of 0.78.

Sempra (NYSE:SRE) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 25th. The utilities provider reported $1.50 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates 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 for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.73 billion. During the same period last year, the business earned $1.13 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 7.6% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts predict that Sempra will post 4.76 EPS for the current year.

Sempra Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed 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. This represents a $2.58 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.58%. This is an increase from Sempra’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.62. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, March 20th. Sempra’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 58.37%.

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.