9,846 Shares in Sempra (NYSE:SRE) Bought by Machina Capital S.A.S.

Machina Capital S.A.S. purchased a new position in Sempra (NYSE:SRE) in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm purchased 9,846 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $864,000.

Other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Crews Bank & Trust bought a new stake in Sempra in the fourth quarter worth $26,000. Synergy Investment Management LLC bought a new stake in Sempra in the fourth quarter worth $29,000. Human Investing LLC bought a new stake in shares of Sempra during the fourth quarter worth $31,000. Hollencrest Capital Management lifted its position in shares of Sempra by 250.0% during the third quarter. Hollencrest Capital Management now owns 378 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $32,000 after purchasing an additional 270 shares during the last quarter. Finally, ST Germain D J Co. Inc. lifted its position in shares of Sempra by 225.6% during the fourth quarter. ST Germain D J Co. Inc. now owns 433 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $38,000 after purchasing an additional 300 shares during the last quarter. 89.65% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at Sempra

In other Sempra news, CEO Jeffrey W. Martin sold 49,737 shares of Sempra stock in a transaction dated Thursday, January 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $82.94, for a total value of $4,125,186.78. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 2 shares in the company, valued at $165.88. The trade was a 100.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, SVP Alexander Lisa Larroque sold 2,755 shares of Sempra 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 owns 13,905 shares in the company, valued at $1,139,236.65. This trade represents a 16.54 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.24% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have recently weighed in on SRE. Guggenheim decreased their target price on Sempra from $95.00 to $87.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, February 26th. Morgan Stanley decreased their target price on Sempra from $100.00 to $85.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, February 26th. BMO Capital Markets decreased their target price on Sempra from $92.00 to $78.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, March 4th. Mizuho decreased their target price on Sempra from $92.00 to $76.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, February 26th. Finally, UBS Group downgraded Sempra from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and decreased their target price for the stock from $95.00 to $78.00 in a research report on Wednesday, February 26th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Sempra currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $81.50.

Sempra Stock Performance

Shares of Sempra stock opened at $69.23 on Friday. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $81.42 and its 200-day moving average price is $84.42. Sempra has a 12 month low of $64.89 and a 12 month 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 firm has a market cap 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 posted its earnings results 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 for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.73 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $1.13 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 7.6% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts expect that Sempra will post 4.76 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Sempra Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced 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 represents a $2.58 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.73%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, March 20th. This is a positive change from Sempra’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.62. Sempra’s payout ratio is 58.37%.

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.