Premier Fund Managers Ltd Sells 1,500 Shares of Sempra (NYSE:SRE)

Premier Fund Managers Ltd reduced its stake in shares of Sempra (NYSE:SRE) by 4.4% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 32,500 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 1,500 shares during the quarter. Premier Fund Managers Ltd’s holdings in Sempra were worth $2,840,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Quest Partners LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Sempra during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $81,000. Dynamic Technology Lab Private Ltd acquired a new position in shares of Sempra during the 3rd quarter worth $466,000. BNP Paribas Financial Markets boosted its stake in Sempra by 1.5% in the third quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 881,364 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $73,708,000 after buying an additional 13,077 shares in the last quarter. Townsquare Capital LLC grew its position in Sempra by 45.2% in the third quarter. Townsquare Capital LLC now owns 31,337 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $2,621,000 after acquiring an additional 9,758 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Glenmede Trust Co. NA raised its stake in Sempra by 0.7% during the third quarter. Glenmede Trust Co. NA now owns 41,393 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $3,462,000 after acquiring an additional 305 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 89.65% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Sempra

In other news, Director Pablo Ferrero bought 2,600 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 17th. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $70.96 per share, with a total value of $184,496.00. Following the transaction, the director now directly owns 15,649 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,110,453.04. This represents a 19.92 % increase in their position. The purchase was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Jeffrey W. Martin sold 49,737 shares of the 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 owns 2 shares in the company, valued at approximately $165.88. The trade was a 100.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders purchased 9,319 shares of company stock valued at $651,676. Corporate insiders own 0.24% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

SRE has been the topic of several research reports. Morgan Stanley lifted their price target on shares of Sempra from $85.00 to $86.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a report on Thursday, March 20th. Mizuho dropped their price target on Sempra from $92.00 to $76.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, February 26th. Guggenheim cut their price objective on Sempra from $95.00 to $87.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, February 26th. Argus downgraded Sempra from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, March 18th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group cut Sempra from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and reduced their price target for the stock from $99.00 to $76.00 in a report on Wednesday, February 26th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $81.33.

Sempra Stock Performance

Shares of Sempra stock opened at $70.15 on Friday. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $77.54 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $83.22. Sempra has a 1-year low of $64.89 and a 1-year high of $95.77. The company has a current ratio of 0.52, a quick ratio of 0.47 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.89. The company has a market cap of $45.70 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.45, a PEG ratio of 2.19 and a beta of 0.76.

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

Sempra Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 15th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, March 20th will be issued a $0.645 dividend. This represents a $2.58 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.68%. 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 (DPR) is presently 58.37%.

Sempra 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.