Forsta AP Fonden Buys 14,100 Shares of Sempra (NYSE:SRE)

Forsta AP Fonden lifted its stake in Sempra (NYSE:SRE) by 13.7% during the 1st quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 117,200 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after buying an additional 14,100 shares during the period. Forsta AP Fonden’s holdings in Sempra were worth $8,418,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in Sempra by 101.8% in the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 62,117,948 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $4,225,884,000 after purchasing an additional 31,334,782 shares during the period. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of Sempra in the fourth quarter worth $958,253,000. Wellington Management Group LLP raised its holdings in Sempra by 12.1% during the 4th quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 27,123,899 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $2,026,969,000 after buying an additional 2,917,668 shares during the last quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB boosted its position in Sempra by 5,279.4% during the 1st quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 1,583,816 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $113,591,000 after buying an additional 1,554,374 shares during the period. Finally, Jennison Associates LLC grew its holdings in Sempra by 36.6% in the 4th quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 2,455,445 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $183,495,000 after acquiring an additional 658,477 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 89.65% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

SRE has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on shares of Sempra from $79.00 to $84.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 8th. BMO Capital Markets dropped their price objective on Sempra from $86.00 to $84.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, July 10th. Mizuho upped their target price on Sempra from $79.00 to $86.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, May 17th. LADENBURG THALM/SH SH cut their price target on shares of Sempra from $81.50 to $79.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, May 29th. Finally, Morgan Stanley decreased their price objective on shares of Sempra from $79.00 to $76.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Monday, June 24th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has issued a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $82.10.

Sempra Price Performance

SRE stock opened at $76.93 on Monday. The company has a current ratio of 0.62, a quick ratio of 0.57 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.87. Sempra has a 12 month low of $63.75 and a 12 month high of $78.83. The stock has a market cap of $48.48 billion, a PE ratio of 17.07, a P/E/G ratio of 2.68 and a beta of 0.74. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $75.97 and a 200 day moving average price of $73.09.

Sempra (NYSE:SRE) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, May 7th. The utilities provider reported $1.34 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.35 by ($0.01). The business had revenue of $3.64 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.58 billion. Sempra had a return on equity of 8.95% and a net margin of 20.99%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 44.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $1.46 EPS. Equities research analysts anticipate that Sempra will post 4.8 earnings per share for the current year.

Sempra Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, July 15th. Investors of record on Thursday, June 27th will be issued a $0.62 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, June 27th. This represents a $2.48 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.22%. Sempra’s payout ratio is currently 54.93%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Sempra news, CAO Peter R. Wall sold 6,100 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, June 18th. The shares were sold at an average price of $75.07, for a total transaction of $457,927.00. Following the transaction, the chief accounting officer now owns 14,751 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,107,357.57. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. In other news, CAO Peter R. Wall sold 6,100 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, June 18th. The stock was sold at an average price of $75.07, for a total value of $457,927.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief accounting officer now owns 14,751 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,107,357.57. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, Director Richard J. Mark purchased 1,925 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 17th. The shares were acquired at an average price of $77.97 per share, for a total transaction of $150,092.25. Following the purchase, the director now directly owns 5,420 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $422,597.40. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. 0.24% of the stock is owned by insiders.

About Sempra

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.