Groupama Asset Managment Sells 221,677 Shares of Sempra (NYSE:SRE)

Groupama Asset Managment trimmed its holdings in shares of Sempra (NYSE:SRE) by 34.1% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 429,095 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 221,677 shares during the period. Groupama Asset Managment owned about 0.07% of Sempra worth $37,481,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec boosted its stake in shares of Sempra by 6.0% during the third quarter. Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec now owns 5,290 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $442,000 after purchasing an additional 300 shares in the last quarter. Erste Asset Management GmbH bought a new stake in Sempra during the 3rd quarter valued at $2,707,000. Kestra Investment Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Sempra in the 3rd quarter valued at $247,000. Benjamin Edwards Inc. raised its position in shares of Sempra by 520.1% in the 3rd quarter. Benjamin Edwards Inc. now owns 24,227 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $2,026,000 after acquiring an additional 20,320 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Cinctive Capital Management LP purchased a new stake in shares of Sempra during the 3rd quarter worth $15,915,000. 89.65% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

SRE has been the topic of several analyst reports. Morgan Stanley lifted their target price on Sempra from $85.00 to $86.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 20th. Guggenheim cut their price objective on shares of Sempra from $95.00 to $87.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, February 26th. Jefferies Financial Group reissued a “hold” rating and set a $77.00 target price (down previously from $96.00) on shares of Sempra in a research report on Monday, March 3rd. UBS Group lowered shares of Sempra from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and cut their price target for the stock from $95.00 to $78.00 in a report on Wednesday, February 26th. 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 report on Tuesday, March 4th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $81.33.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director Michael N. Mears purchased 1,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, March 10th. The shares were bought at an average cost of $67.70 per share, with a total value of $67,700.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 5,000 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $338,500. This trade represents a 25.00 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The acquisition was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, SVP Alexander Lisa Larroque sold 2,755 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 11th. The shares were 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 position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders acquired a total of 9,319 shares of company stock valued at $651,676 over the last 90 days. Insiders own 0.24% of the company’s stock.

Sempra Stock Performance

Shares of SRE opened at $71.38 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.89, a quick ratio of 0.47 and a current ratio of 0.52. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $76.95 and a two-hundred day moving average of $83.07. The stock has a market cap of $46.50 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.72, a P/E/G ratio of 2.19 and a beta of 0.76. Sempra has a one year low of $64.89 and a one year high of $95.77.

Sempra (NYSE:SRE) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 25th. The utilities provider reported $1.50 earnings per share (EPS) 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 firm had revenue of $3.76 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.73 billion. During the same period last year, the business posted $1.13 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter 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 firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 15th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, March 20th will be paid a $0.645 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, March 20th. This represents a $2.58 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.61%. This is a positive change from Sempra’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.62. 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.