Benjamin Edwards Inc. Buys 146 Shares of Sempra (NYSE:SRE)

Benjamin Edwards Inc. increased its stake in Sempra (NYSE:SRE) by 7.5% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 2,081 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 146 shares during the period. Benjamin Edwards Inc.’s holdings in Sempra were worth $156,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. WFA of San Diego LLC raised its stake in shares of Sempra by 29.9% during the third quarter. WFA of San Diego LLC now owns 2,439 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $166,000 after acquiring an additional 561 shares during the last quarter. Meyer Handelman Co. lifted its holdings in Sempra by 100.0% in the 3rd quarter. Meyer Handelman Co. now owns 68,696 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $4,673,000 after buying an additional 34,348 shares during the period. New Mexico Educational Retirement Board grew its position in shares of Sempra by 114.4% in the 3rd quarter. New Mexico Educational Retirement Board now owns 32,782 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $2,230,000 after buying an additional 17,491 shares during the last quarter. Ausbil Investment Management Ltd increased its stake in shares of Sempra by 13.5% during the fourth quarter. Ausbil Investment Management Ltd now owns 172,129 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $12,863,000 after buying an additional 20,469 shares during the period. Finally, CUSHING ASSET MANAGEMENT LP dba NXG INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT bought a new position in shares of Sempra during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $9,715,000. 89.65% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

SRE has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. StockNews.com cut shares of Sempra from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 20th. Barclays boosted their price target on shares of Sempra from $77.00 to $79.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 14th. Morgan Stanley raised their price objective on shares of Sempra from $74.00 to $75.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, March 21st. BMO Capital Markets upgraded Sempra from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and upped their target price for the stock from $76.00 to $84.00 in a report on Thursday, January 11th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $82.00 target price on shares of Sempra in a research note on Wednesday, March 6th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has given a hold rating and nine have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $82.14.

Sempra Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:SRE opened at $72.92 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $46.10 billion, a PE ratio of 15.22, a PEG ratio of 2.52 and a beta of 0.70. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $70.65 and a 200-day moving average price of $71.78. Sempra has a 1-year low of $63.75 and a 1-year high of $78.70. 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 (NYSE:SRE) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, February 27th. The utilities provider reported $1.13 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.11 by $0.02. Sempra had a net margin of 18.26% and a return on equity of 9.45%. The business had revenue of $3.49 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $4.01 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $1.17 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 1.0% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts expect that Sempra will post 4.82 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Sempra Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, April 15th. Shareholders of record on Thursday, March 21st were paid a dividend of $0.62 per share. This represents a $2.48 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.40%. This is an increase from Sempra’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.60. The ex-dividend date was Wednesday, March 20th. Sempra’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 51.77%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, insider Diana L. Day sold 3,937 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $71.21, for a total transaction of $280,353.77. Following the transaction, the insider now directly owns 18,145 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,292,105.45. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. In other news, insider Diana L. Day sold 3,937 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 7th. The shares were sold at an average price of $71.21, for a total transaction of $280,353.77. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 18,145 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,292,105.45. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CFO Karen L. Sedgwick sold 5,158 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $71.21, for a total transaction of $367,301.18. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer now owns 43,024 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,063,739.04. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 122,432 shares of company stock valued at $8,668,035. Corporate insiders own 0.24% 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.