KLP Kapitalforvaltning AS Invests $43.96 Million in Sempra (NYSE:SRE)

KLP Kapitalforvaltning AS bought a new stake in Sempra (NYSE:SRE) in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund bought 498,124 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $43,956,000.

Several other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Lindbrook Capital LLC increased its stake in Sempra by 5.4% during the 4th quarter. Lindbrook Capital LLC now owns 2,410 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $211,000 after buying an additional 124 shares during the period. Pinnacle West Asset Management Inc. increased its stake in Sempra by 5.1% during the 4th quarter. Pinnacle West Asset Management Inc. now owns 2,585 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $227,000 after buying an additional 125 shares during the period. Avantax Planning Partners Inc. increased its stake in Sempra by 2.0% during the 4th quarter. Avantax Planning Partners Inc. now owns 7,423 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $651,000 after buying an additional 147 shares during the period. LVM Capital Management Ltd. MI increased its stake in Sempra by 2.4% during the 4th quarter. LVM Capital Management Ltd. MI now owns 6,677 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $586,000 after buying an additional 155 shares during the period. Finally, Kingsview Wealth Management LLC increased its stake in Sempra by 0.3% during the 3rd quarter. Kingsview Wealth Management LLC now owns 46,518 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $3,890,000 after buying an additional 158 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 89.65% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

SRE has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Morgan Stanley raised their target price on shares of Sempra from $85.00 to $86.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday. Guggenheim reduced their price objective on shares of Sempra from $95.00 to $87.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, February 26th. Argus lowered shares of Sempra from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday. The Goldman Sachs Group lowered shares of Sempra from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and reduced their price objective for the company from $99.00 to $76.00 in a research report on Wednesday, February 26th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group restated a “hold” rating and set a $77.00 price objective (down previously from $96.00) on shares of Sempra in a research report on Monday, March 3rd. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Sempra has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $81.58.

Sempra Stock Performance

Shares of SRE stock opened at $69.56 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $45.31 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.32, a P/E/G ratio of 2.19 and a beta of 0.76. 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’s fifty day simple moving average is $78.36 and its 200-day simple moving average is $83.57.

Sempra (NYSE:SRE) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Tuesday, February 25th. The utilities provider reported $1.50 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.47 by $0.03. The firm had revenue of $3.76 billion during 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 business’s quarterly revenue was up 7.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company posted $1.13 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts predict 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 given a $0.645 dividend. This is an increase from Sempra’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.62. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, March 20th. This represents a $2.58 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.71%. Sempra’s dividend payout ratio is presently 58.37%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Sempra

In related news, CEO Jeffrey W. Martin sold 49,737 shares of the stock in a transaction 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 completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2 shares in the company, valued at approximately $165.88. This trade represents a 100.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Director Pablo Ferrero bought 2,600 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, March 17th. The stock was purchased at an average price of $70.96 per share, for a total transaction of $184,496.00. Following the purchase, the director now directly owns 15,649 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,110,453.04. This represents a 19.92 % increase in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this purchase can be found here. Insiders purchased 9,319 shares of company stock valued at $651,676 in the last quarter. Company 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.