Blueshift Asset Management LLC Takes $280,000 Position in Sempra (NYSE:SRE)

Blueshift Asset Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Sempra (NYSE:SRE) during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund purchased 3,192 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $280,000.

A number of other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in SRE. FMR LLC boosted its position in Sempra by 9.1% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 18,978,605 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,587,181,000 after buying an additional 1,582,653 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp grew 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 in the 4th quarter worth about $123,614,000. National Bank of Canada FI raised its position in Sempra by 201.2% in the third quarter. National Bank of Canada FI now owns 620,394 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $51,882,000 after purchasing an additional 414,406 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Unigestion Holding SA bought a new position in Sempra in the third quarter valued at about $33,023,000. 89.65% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

SRE has been the subject of several recent research reports. UBS Group downgraded Sempra from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and lowered their price objective for the company from $95.00 to $78.00 in a research note on Wednesday, February 26th. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their target price on shares of Sempra from $96.00 to $88.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, February 26th. Guggenheim dropped their price target on shares of Sempra from $95.00 to $87.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, February 26th. Mizuho reduced their price objective on shares of Sempra from $92.00 to $76.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, February 26th. Finally, Barclays downgraded Sempra from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and decreased their price objective for the company from $95.00 to $72.00 in a report on Thursday, February 27th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $81.58.

Sempra Stock Performance

SRE stock opened at $69.56 on Friday. Sempra has a 1-year low of $64.89 and a 1-year 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 stock has a 50-day moving average price of $78.36 and a 200-day moving average price of $83.57. The firm has a market cap of $45.31 billion, a PE ratio of 15.32, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.19 and a beta of 0.76.

Sempra (NYSE:SRE) last issued its quarterly 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. The firm had revenue of $3.76 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $4.73 billion. Sempra had a return on equity of 8.06% and a net margin of 22.63%. The company’s revenue was up 7.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $1.13 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Sempra will post 4.76 earnings per share for the current year.

Sempra Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared 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 is an increase from Sempra’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.62. This represents a $2.58 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.71%. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, March 20th. Sempra’s payout ratio is 58.37%.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Jeffrey W. Martin sold 49,737 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, January 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $82.94, for a total transaction of $4,125,186.78. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $165.88. This represents a 100.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, Director Cynthia J. Warner purchased 700 shares of Sempra stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 6th. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $70.65 per share, with a total value of $49,455.00. Following the transaction, the director now owns 8,759 shares in the company, valued at $618,823.35. This trade represents a 8.69 % increase in their position. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have purchased 9,319 shares of company stock worth $651,676. Company insiders own 0.24% of the company’s stock.

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.