Fmr LLC Has $1.80 Billion Holdings in Sempra (NYSE:SRE)

Fmr LLC boosted its holdings in Sempra (NYSE:SRE) by 8.0% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 20,489,918 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,511,313 shares during the quarter. Fmr LLC owned 3.23% of Sempra worth $1,797,376,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Peapack Gladstone Financial Corp boosted its stake in shares of Sempra by 98.3% in the fourth quarter. Peapack Gladstone Financial Corp now owns 5,625 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $493,000 after buying an additional 2,789 shares during the period. Quadrant Capital Group LLC raised its holdings in Sempra by 3.1% in the 4th quarter. Quadrant Capital Group LLC now owns 6,192 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $543,000 after acquiring an additional 189 shares in the last quarter. Ilmarinen Mutual Pension Insurance Co grew its holdings in shares of Sempra by 133.6% during the 4th quarter. Ilmarinen Mutual Pension Insurance Co now owns 149,500 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $13,114,000 after purchasing an additional 85,500 shares in the last quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. increased its position in shares of Sempra by 14.4% in the fourth quarter. Russell Investments Group Ltd. now owns 526,770 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $46,197,000 after purchasing an additional 66,468 shares during the period. Finally, Perennial Investment Advisors LLC raised its stake in Sempra by 3.6% in the fourth quarter. Perennial Investment Advisors LLC now owns 5,068 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $444,000 after purchasing an additional 175 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 89.65% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

SRE has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Barclays lowered shares of Sempra from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and decreased their target price for the company from $95.00 to $72.00 in a report on Thursday, February 27th. BMO Capital Markets decreased their price objective on shares of Sempra from $92.00 to $78.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, March 4th. UBS Group cut Sempra from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and cut their target price for the stock from $95.00 to $78.00 in a research note on Wednesday, February 26th. Wells Fargo & Company decreased their price target on Sempra from $88.00 to $85.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, March 26th. Finally, Morgan Stanley raised their price objective on Sempra from $85.00 to $86.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 20th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Sempra currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $81.33.

Insider Buying and Selling at Sempra

In other Sempra news, EVP Justin Christopher Bird sold 4,817 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, April 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $71.23, for a total transaction of $343,114.91. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 19,778 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,408,786.94. This represents a 19.59 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, SVP Alexander Lisa Larroque sold 2,755 shares of Sempra stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $81.93, for a total value of $225,717.15. Following the completion of the transaction, the senior vice president now directly owns 13,905 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,139,236.65. This trade represents a 16.54 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders bought 9,319 shares of company stock valued at $651,676 and sold 57,309 shares valued at $4,694,019. Insiders own 0.24% of the company’s stock.

Sempra Stock Down 6.8 %

NYSE:SRE opened at $65.89 on Monday. Sempra has a one year low of $64.89 and a one year high of $95.77. 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 company has a market cap of $42.96 billion, a PE ratio of 14.51, a P/E/G ratio of 2.19 and a beta of 0.65. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $75.87 and its 200 day simple moving average is $82.70.

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, topping the consensus estimate of $1.47 by $0.03. The company had revenue of $3.76 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.73 billion. Sempra had a net margin of 22.63% and a return on equity of 8.06%. Sempra’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $1.13 earnings per share. On average, research analysts anticipate that Sempra will post 4.76 earnings per share for the current year.

Sempra Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 15th. Investors of record on Thursday, March 20th will be issued a $0.645 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, March 20th. This is a boost from Sempra’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.62. This represents a $2.58 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.92%. Sempra’s dividend payout ratio 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.