Norges Bank Takes $1.54 Billion Position in Sempra (NYSE:SRE)

Norges Bank acquired a new stake in Sempra (NYSE:SRE) during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm acquired 17,498,863 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $1,535,000,000. Norges Bank owned approximately 2.76% of Sempra as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors have also bought and sold shares of SRE. Crews Bank & Trust bought a new position in Sempra in the fourth quarter valued at about $26,000. Synergy Investment Management LLC acquired a new stake in Sempra in the fourth quarter valued at $29,000. TCTC Holdings LLC increased its holdings in Sempra by 265.2% in the fourth quarter. TCTC Holdings LLC now owns 336 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $29,000 after purchasing an additional 244 shares during the period. Human Investing LLC bought a new position in Sempra during the 4th quarter worth $31,000. Finally, ST Germain D J Co. Inc. lifted its holdings in Sempra by 225.6% during the 4th quarter. ST Germain D J Co. Inc. now owns 433 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $38,000 after buying an additional 300 shares during the period. 89.65% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on SRE. Morgan Stanley boosted their price target on shares of Sempra from $85.00 to $86.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, March 20th. Mizuho dropped their target price on shares of Sempra from $92.00 to $76.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, February 26th. Argus downgraded Sempra from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, March 18th. Barclays downgraded Sempra from an “overweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and dropped their price objective for the company from $95.00 to $72.00 in a research note on Thursday, February 27th. Finally, 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 note on Tuesday, March 4th. Five analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Sempra currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $81.33.

Sempra Trading Up 2.4 %

NYSE:SRE opened at $70.76 on Thursday. 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 company has a 50-day moving average price of $77.82 and a 200-day moving average price of $83.31. The stock has a market cap of $46.10 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 15.59, a P/E/G ratio of 2.19 and a beta of 0.76.

Sempra (NYSE:SRE) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 25th. The utilities provider reported $1.50 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.47 by $0.03. The company 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 firm’s revenue was up 7.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $1.13 earnings per share. Equities analysts predict that Sempra will post 4.76 EPS for the current year.

Sempra Increases Dividend

The firm 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 dividend of $0.645 per share. This is an increase from Sempra’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.62. The ex-dividend date is Thursday, March 20th. This represents a $2.58 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.65%. Sempra’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 58.37%.

Insider Activity

In other Sempra news, CEO Jeffrey W. Martin sold 49,737 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on 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 sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 2 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $165.88. The trade was a 100.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, SVP Alexander Lisa Larroque sold 2,755 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $81.93, for a total value of $225,717.15. Following the transaction, the senior vice president now owns 13,905 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,139,236.65. The trade was a 16.54 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders acquired 9,319 shares of company stock worth $651,676. 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.