Mosley Wealth Management Buys 556 Shares of Sempra (NYSE:SRE)

Mosley Wealth Management grew its stake in shares of Sempra (NYSE:SRE) by 7.9% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 7,551 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after buying an additional 556 shares during the quarter. Mosley Wealth Management’s holdings in Sempra were worth $619,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Fox Run Management L.L.C. purchased a new position in shares of Sempra in the 4th quarter worth about $426,000. KLP Kapitalforvaltning AS bought a new stake in Sempra in the 4th quarter worth approximately $43,956,000. Sei Investments Co. boosted its stake in Sempra by 2.6% in the fourth quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 222,793 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $19,543,000 after buying an additional 5,612 shares in the last quarter. Mizuho Securities USA LLC boosted its stake in Sempra by 46.2% in the fourth quarter. Mizuho Securities USA LLC now owns 60,032 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $5,266,000 after buying an additional 18,976 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Lee Danner & Bass Inc. grew its position in Sempra by 169.9% during the fourth quarter. Lee Danner & Bass Inc. now owns 25,570 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $2,243,000 after acquiring an additional 16,095 shares during the last quarter. 89.65% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CEO Jeffrey W. Martin sold 49,737 shares of the business’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 sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $165.88. The trade was a 100.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, SVP Alexander Lisa Larroque sold 2,755 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 11th. The shares were 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 approximately $1,139,236.65. This trade represents a 16.54 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have bought a total of 9,319 shares of company stock valued at $651,676 over the last ninety days. Company insiders own 0.24% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

SRE has been the subject of a number of research reports. Morgan Stanley upped their price objective on shares of Sempra from $85.00 to $86.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday. The Goldman Sachs Group lowered shares of Sempra from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and cut their price target for the company from $99.00 to $76.00 in a research report on Wednesday, February 26th. UBS Group cut Sempra from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and reduced their price objective for the company from $95.00 to $78.00 in a research note on Wednesday, February 26th. Jefferies Financial Group reissued a “hold” rating and issued a $77.00 target price (down previously from $96.00) on shares of Sempra in a research note on Monday, March 3rd. Finally, BMO Capital Markets decreased their price target on Sempra from $92.00 to $78.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, March 4th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $81.58.

Sempra Stock Performance

NYSE:SRE opened at $69.56 on Friday. 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 has a twelve month low of $64.89 and a twelve month high of $95.77. The stock has a market cap of $45.31 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.32, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.19 and a beta of 0.76. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $78.36 and its 200 day simple moving average is $83.58.

Sempra (NYSE:SRE) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 25th. The utilities provider reported $1.50 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.47 by $0.03. Sempra had a net margin of 22.63% and a return on equity of 8.06%. The company had revenue of $3.76 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.73 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $1.13 earnings per share. Sempra’s quarterly revenue was up 7.6% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts predict that Sempra will post 4.76 EPS for the current year.

Sempra Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared 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 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.71%. This is a boost from Sempra’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.62. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, March 20th. 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.