Raymond James Financial Inc. Purchases New Stake in Sempra (NYSE:SRE)

Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new stake in Sempra (NYSE:SRE) in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund purchased 1,409,185 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $123,614,000.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Crews Bank & Trust acquired a new position in Sempra in the fourth quarter valued at about $26,000. Synergy Investment Management LLC acquired a new position in Sempra in the fourth quarter valued at about $29,000. Human Investing LLC acquired a new position in Sempra in the fourth quarter valued at about $31,000. Hollencrest Capital Management raised its stake in Sempra by 250.0% in the third quarter. Hollencrest Capital Management now owns 378 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $32,000 after purchasing an additional 270 shares in the last quarter. Finally, ST Germain D J Co. Inc. raised its stake in Sempra by 225.6% in the fourth quarter. ST Germain D J Co. Inc. now owns 433 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $38,000 after purchasing an additional 300 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 89.65% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts recently commented on the company. The Goldman Sachs Group downgraded Sempra from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and dropped their price target for the company from $99.00 to $76.00 in a research note on Wednesday, February 26th. UBS Group downgraded Sempra from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and lowered their target price for the stock from $95.00 to $78.00 in a research note on Wednesday, February 26th. Mizuho lowered their target price on Sempra from $92.00 to $76.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note 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 note on Monday, March 3rd. Finally, Guggenheim lowered their target price on Sempra from $95.00 to $87.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, February 26th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Sempra presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $81.50.

Insider Activity

In related news, SVP Alexander Lisa Larroque sold 2,755 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $81.93, for a total value of $225,717.15. Following the sale, the senior vice president now directly owns 13,905 shares in the company, valued at $1,139,236.65. This represents a 16.54 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, Director Cynthia J. Warner bought 700 shares of Sempra stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 6th. The stock was bought at an average price of $70.65 per share, for a total transaction of $49,455.00. Following the completion of the acquisition, the director now directly owns 8,759 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $618,823.35. The trade was a 8.69 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. 0.24% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Sempra Stock Performance

Sempra stock opened at $69.23 on Friday. The business has a 50 day moving average of $81.42 and a 200-day moving average of $84.42. Sempra has a 1 year low of $64.89 and a 1 year high of $95.77. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.89, a current ratio of 0.52 and a quick ratio of 0.47. The company has a market capitalization of $45.10 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.25, a P/E/G ratio of 2.19 and a beta of 0.76.

Sempra (NYSE:SRE) last released its quarterly earnings data 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 return on equity of 8.06% and a net margin of 22.63%. The company had revenue of $3.76 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.73 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $1.13 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 7.6% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts predict that Sempra will post 4.76 earnings per share for the current year.

Sempra Increases Dividend

The company 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 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.73%. This is an increase from Sempra’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.62. Sempra’s dividend payout ratio is currently 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.