Sempra (NYSE:SRE) Stake Lifted by West Paces Advisors Inc.

West Paces Advisors Inc. increased its stake in shares of Sempra (NYSE:SRE) by 6.2% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 9,824 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after buying an additional 572 shares during the quarter. West Paces Advisors Inc.’s holdings in Sempra were worth $734,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. grew its stake in shares of Sempra by 0.6% in the first quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 1,141,824 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $191,963,000 after purchasing an additional 6,246 shares in the last quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Sempra by 780.0% in the first quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC now owns 1,804 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $302,000 after purchasing an additional 1,599 shares in the last quarter. Cibc World Market Inc. bought a new position in shares of Sempra in the first quarter worth $782,000. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP grew its stake in shares of Sempra by 3.6% in the first quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 668,646 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $112,411,000 after purchasing an additional 23,431 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Vontobel Holding Ltd. grew its stake in shares of Sempra by 77.4% in the first quarter. Vontobel Holding Ltd. now owns 13,575 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $2,276,000 after purchasing an additional 5,924 shares in the last quarter. 89.65% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts recently weighed in on the company. Barclays raised their target price on Sempra from $77.00 to $79.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 14th. Morgan Stanley raised their target price on Sempra from $74.00 to $75.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 21st. StockNews.com cut Sempra from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 20th. Mizuho reduced their target price on Sempra from $83.00 to $79.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, January 25th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets raised Sempra from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and upped their target price for the company from $76.00 to $84.00 in a report on Thursday, January 11th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has issued a hold rating and nine have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $82.14.

Sempra Stock Down 2.5 %

Sempra stock traded down $1.70 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, hitting $66.41. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 3,423,456 shares, compared to its average volume of 2,965,477. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $70.52 and its 200 day moving average is $71.54. The company has a market cap of $41.98 billion, a PE ratio of 14.04, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.37 and a beta of 0.71. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.85, a current ratio of 0.54 and a quick ratio of 0.49. Sempra has a 52-week low of $63.75 and a 52-week high of $79.51.

Sempra (NYSE:SRE) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 27th. The utilities provider reported $1.13 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.11 by $0.02. Sempra had a return on equity of 9.45% and a net margin of 18.26%. The company had revenue of $3.49 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.01 billion. During the same period last year, the business earned $1.17 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 1.0% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts anticipate that Sempra will post 4.83 earnings per share for the current year.

Sempra Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, April 15th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, March 21st were paid a dividend of $0.62 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, March 20th. This is an increase from Sempra’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.60. This represents a $2.48 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.73%. Sempra’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 51.77%.

Insider Transactions at Sempra

In other news, VP Trevor I. Mihalik sold 57,571 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $70.59, for a total transaction of $4,063,936.89. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president now directly owns 10,922 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $770,983.98. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other news, VP Trevor I. Mihalik sold 57,571 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, March 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $70.59, for a total transaction of $4,063,936.89. Following the transaction, the vice president now owns 10,922 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $770,983.98. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Jeffrey W. Martin sold 50,703 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $70.92, for a total value of $3,595,856.76. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2 shares in the company, valued at approximately $141.84. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 156,622 shares of company stock valued at $11,089,713 in the last three months. Corporate insiders own 0.27% of the company’s stock.

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.