Wealth High Governance Capital Ltda Acquires New Holdings in Sempra (NYSE:SRE)

Wealth High Governance Capital Ltda acquired a new stake in Sempra (NYSE:SRE) in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund acquired 12,418 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $1,089,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of SRE. FMR LLC grew its position in shares of Sempra by 9.1% in the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 18,978,605 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,587,181,000 after purchasing an additional 1,582,653 shares during the period. State Street Corp boosted its position in Sempra by 4.9% during the 3rd quarter. State Street Corp now owns 32,940,620 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $2,774,974,000 after acquiring an additional 1,539,026 shares during the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new position in Sempra during the 4th quarter worth approximately $123,614,000. National Bank of Canada FI boosted its position in Sempra by 201.2% during the 3rd quarter. National Bank of Canada FI now owns 620,394 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $51,882,000 after acquiring an additional 414,406 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Unigestion Holding SA acquired a new position in Sempra during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $33,023,000. 89.65% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts have weighed in on the company. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price target on Sempra from $96.00 to $88.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, February 26th. Morgan Stanley dropped their price objective on Sempra from $100.00 to $85.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, February 26th. BMO Capital Markets dropped their price objective on Sempra from $92.00 to $78.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, March 4th. UBS Group cut Sempra from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and dropped their price objective for the stock from $95.00 to $78.00 in a research note on Wednesday, February 26th. Finally, Guggenheim dropped their price objective on Sempra from $95.00 to $87.00 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, February 26th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Sempra currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $81.50.

Sempra Stock Down 1.1 %

SRE opened at $68.70 on Wednesday. Sempra has a 1-year low of $64.89 and a 1-year high of $95.77. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $80.68 and its 200 day simple moving average is $84.27. 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 stock has a market cap of $44.75 billion, a PE ratio of 15.13, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.19 and a beta of 0.76.

Sempra (NYSE:SRE) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 25th. The utilities provider reported $1.50 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.47 by $0.03. Sempra had a return on equity of 8.06% and a net margin of 22.63%. The firm had revenue of $3.76 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.73 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $1.13 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.6% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts expect that Sempra will post 4.76 earnings per share for the current year.

Sempra Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, April 15th. Stockholders of record on Thursday, March 20th will be issued a dividend of $0.645 per share. This is a positive change from Sempra’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.62. This represents a $2.58 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.76%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, March 20th. Sempra’s dividend payout ratio is 58.37%.

Insider Transactions at Sempra

In related news, Director Michael N. Mears bought 1,000 shares of Sempra stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 10th. The shares were bought at an average cost of $67.70 per share, with a total value of $67,700.00. Following the acquisition, the director now owns 5,000 shares in the company, valued at $338,500. This trade represents a 25.00 % increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, SVP Alexander Lisa Larroque sold 2,755 shares of the stock in a transaction 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 approximately $1,139,236.65. This trade represents a 16.54 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.27% of the stock is currently 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.