Royal London Asset Management Ltd. Has $42.79 Million Holdings in Sempra (NYSE:SRE)

Royal London Asset Management Ltd. trimmed its holdings in shares of Sempra (NYSE:SRE) by 0.5% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 487,777 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 2,674 shares during the period. Royal London Asset Management Ltd. owned about 0.08% of Sempra worth $42,788,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of SRE. Empowered Funds LLC raised its holdings in Sempra by 9.7% in the 3rd quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 10,744 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $899,000 after acquiring an additional 951 shares during the period. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans increased its stake in Sempra by 6.8% in the third quarter. Thrivent Financial for Lutherans now owns 31,674 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $2,649,000 after acquiring an additional 2,010 shares during the last quarter. Quest Partners LLC bought a new position in Sempra in the third quarter valued at approximately $81,000. Prospera Financial Services Inc increased its stake in Sempra by 14.6% in the third quarter. Prospera Financial Services Inc now owns 34,455 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $2,881,000 after acquiring an additional 4,401 shares during the last quarter. Finally, PNC Financial Services Group Inc. increased its stake in Sempra by 1.9% in the third quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 357,107 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $29,865,000 after acquiring an additional 6,709 shares during the last quarter. 89.65% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Sempra Trading Down 1.4 %

SRE opened at $70.10 on Friday. 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 $45.67 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.44, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.19 and a beta of 0.76. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $78.55 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $83.66.

Sempra (NYSE:SRE) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 25th. The utilities provider reported $1.50 earnings per share 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 firm had revenue of $3.76 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.73 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.13 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 7.6% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts predict that Sempra will post 4.76 EPS for the current fiscal 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 paid a $0.645 dividend. This is an increase from Sempra’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.62. This represents a $2.58 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.68%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, March 20th. Sempra’s payout ratio is 58.37%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Sempra

In other Sempra news, Director Pablo Ferrero bought 2,600 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 17th. The shares were bought at an average price of $70.96 per share, for a total transaction of $184,496.00. Following the acquisition, the director now directly owns 15,649 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,110,453.04. The trade was a 19.92 % increase in their position. The acquisition was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CEO Jeffrey W. Martin sold 49,737 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, January 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $82.94, for a total transaction of $4,125,186.78. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 2 shares in the company, valued at $165.88. This represents 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

A number of brokerages have weighed in on SRE. UBS Group lowered shares of Sempra from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and cut their target price for the company from $95.00 to $78.00 in a research report on Wednesday, February 26th. Jefferies Financial Group restated a “hold” rating and issued a $77.00 target price (down previously from $96.00) on shares of Sempra in a research report on Monday, March 3rd. Barclays lowered shares of Sempra from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and cut their target price for the company from $95.00 to $72.00 in a research report on Thursday, February 27th. Argus lowered shares of Sempra from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday. Finally, Mizuho cut their price target on shares of Sempra from $92.00 to $76.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, February 26th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $81.58.

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.